A four-story, 100-ton box was lowered Friday to the seabed to try to capture most of the oil and allow it to be funneled up to a ship on the surface, but it was rendered useless on Sunday when ice crystals formed in its domed roof.

BP experts believe the smaller "top hat" containment box would not suffer the same problem as it would not hold so much freezing cold seawater.

They are preparing to drop it into the inky depths to carry out a similar fix to what is unfolding as one the worst oil spills in US history.

The company's chief executive Tony Hayward told reporters he hoped the smaller container would be in place "within 72 hours" and officials said it should be up and running this week.

Hayward admitted the smaller size meant it "will be less efficient at capturing" the leaking oil than the larger dome, which had been expected to swallow up to 85 percent of the crude.

With BP coming under intense pressure, including from the White House, to plug the leak from a fractured pipe on the seabed, Hayward urged people to consider that "this is the first time that we have had a major accident" in the past 20 years.

"We are taking this incredibly seriously" and responding in a "very, very aggressive way," he told National Public Radio. "We need to learn the lessons. They will shape the industry as we go forward."

BP said its disaster-related costs have reached 350 million dollars since the Deepwater Horizon rig sank 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast on April 22 following an explosion that killed 11 workers.

An estimated 210,000 gallons of crude is spewing into the sea each day, feeding fears of an environmental catastrophe.

With some 3.8 million gallons already in the sea causing untold damage to the ecologically fragile Gulf coast, engineers are searching furiously for a quicker solution than a relief well that may not be ready until August.

President Barack Obama demanded BP "aggressively" pursue a solution to the spill as he sought advice from independent experts, the White House said.

Obama huddled with cabinet members in the White House Situation Room on Monday "to decide on next steps" in efforts to contain a steadily expanding disaster, and to keep the pressure squarely on responsible party British Petroleum as it struggles to stem the massive leak.

Obama was dispatching a fresh delegation of officials to the Gulf Coast this week, led by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, "for an extensive dialogue with BP officials to continue to aggressively pursue potential solutions," the White House said in a statement.

The US Navy bolstered its role in skimming and salvage operations-including 16 Modular Skimming Systems deployed to Gulfport, Mississippi. A total of 1,400 military personnel have been deployed to support cleanup and mitigation, officials said.

In tandem with the "top hat," BP is also preparing for a bizarre operation to inject golf balls, tires and other "junk" into the main leak, 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) down on the seabed, and then jam it up.

"We actually pump that material in and plug up the blowout preventer and follow that with heavy fluids followed by cement," explained BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles.

The "junk shot" could be risky as experts have warned that tinkering with the blowout preventer -- a huge 450-ton valve system that should have shut off the oil -- could see crude shoot out unchecked at 12 times the current rate.

BP also restarted Monday operations to stream dispersants directly into the main leak despite fears that the dispersants themselves could be harming aquatic life from the smallest microorganisms on up.

The US Congress kicks off a spate of hearings into the catastrophe on Tuesday, BP's top US executive Lamar McKay faces a certain grilling from members of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee looking into offshore drilling safety and who was responsible for the Gulf oil spill.

Some lawmakers, citing the possible impact of the disaster on local tourism and fishing industries, have called for lifting oil companies' liability for economic damages from a spill from 75 million to 10 billion dollars.

Sheen from the leading edge of the slick has surrounded island nature reserves off Louisiana's coast and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast, threatening tourist beaches further east.

Sea life has been affected in a region that contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is a major migratory stop for rare birds.

earlier related report
BP mulls risky 'junk shot' to stem US oil slick
New Orleans, Louisiana (AFP) May 10, 2010 - In a sign Monday of growing desperation, BP contemplated plugging a gushing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico with golf balls, tires and debris in a high-risk maneuver called a "junk shot."

The British energy giant said its clean-up costs had reached 350 million dollars since the Deepwater Horizon rig sank 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast on April 22 following an explosion that killed 11 workers.

The pressure on BP to plug the leak from a fractured pipe on the seabed is mounting as an estimated 210,000 gallons of crude spews into the sea each day, feeding fears of an environmental catastrophe.

With some 3.5 million gallons already in the sea causing untold damage to the ecologically fragile Louisiana coast, engineers are searching furiously for a quicker solution than a relief well that may not be ready until August.

A four-story, 100-ton box was lowered to the seabed to try to capture most of the oil and allow it to be funneled up to a ship on the surface, but it was rendered useless on Sunday when ice crystals formed in its domed roof.

BP experts believe a smaller box, dubbed the "top hat," might not suffer the same clogging problem and is preparing to drop this into the inky depths to carry out a similar fix.

An alternative is a bizarre operation to inject golf balls, tires and other "junk" into the main leak, 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) down on the seabed, and then jam it up.

"We actually pump that material in and plug up the blowout preventer and follow that with heavy fluids followed by cement," explained BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles on CNN.

The "junk shot" could be risky as experts have warned that tinkering with the blowout preventer -- a huge 450-ton valve system that should have shut off the oil -- could see crude shoot out unchecked at 12 times the current rate.

Eric Smith, an expert from Tulane University, told AFP that BP would have to force the mix down against upward pressure of more than 2,200 pounds per square inch of water pressure from the sea floor.

"You need a lot of horsepower and a lot of pressure," Smith said. "You are basically stopping up the kitchen sink or the toilet."

A BP statement said preparations for a "junk shot" would be pursued over the next two weeks in tandem with work on the smaller containment dome. It did not say when the "junk shot" might be attempted.

The White House also has containment problems related to the spill as it tries to prevent the political fallout from impacting on President Barack Obama's energy agenda.

Obama, who suspended new offshore drilling permits until exhaustive checks are conducted on thousands of rigs and until the disaster has been fully investigated, was to meet senior staff Monday for a progress report.

The US Congress kicks off a spate of hearings into the catastrophe on Tuesday, when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar goes before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to discuss "issues in offshore drilling."

Coastal state lawmakers, especially Democratic allies of Obama, have condemned the decision to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling, and want to know whether the disaster could, and should, have been averted.

The committee will also grill Steven Newman, president of Transocean, the platform operator, and Tim Probert, the top health, safety and environment officer at Halliburton, which worked on the rig shortly before the blast.

Some lawmakers, citing the possible impact of the disaster on local tourism and fishing industries, have called for lifting oil companies' liability for economic damages from a spill from 75 million to 10 billion dollars.

Sheen from the leading edge of the slick has surrounded island nature reserves off the coast of Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast, threatening tourist beaches further east.

Sea life has been affected in a region that contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is a major migratory stop for many species of rare birds.

The 2.4-billion-dollar Louisiana fishing industry has been slapped with a temporary ban in certain areas due to health concerns about polluted fish.

BP began drilling a first relief well on May 2, but that could take up to three months to drill -- by which time some 20 million gallons of crude could have streamed into the sea and ruined the fragile ecology of the Gulf.

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