VENICE, LA- Almost a month into one of history’s worst oil spills, BP executives announced a successful development in containing the leak by using the “Insertion Tube Method”, a mile-long metal pipe that has been inserted into the the largest opening of the busted well. The oil is then partially directed to a drill ship on the ocean’s surface. However, BP officials say that this system, has not been fully applied, and is only collecting about 20 %–or about 1,000 barrels– of the total amount flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.
BP officials say they are moving slowly in order to avoid the same pitfalls that hampered, and ultimately stopped their last major attempt of containing the gushing oil flow. A 100-ton dome failed to work as engineers hoped when it collected slush-like crystals, called hydrates, that clogged the 4-story structure, and left it abandoned on the sea bed.