A cap collected some of the oil spewing out of the blown-out Gulf well, but black crude was still leaking into the sea, and officials said they won’t know until later on Friday how the device is working.
It’s the latest bid to contain — not plug — the nation’s worst spill. Even if the cap is successful, it will not collect all the oil coming out. Stopping the leak is still months away.
But officials were optimistic when the inverted funnel-like system, wrapped in hoses and more sophisticated than previous devices, started pumping oil and gas to a tanker on the surface.
Coast Guard Adm Thad Allen, the government’s point man for the disaster, said a very rough estimate of current collection would be about 42,000 gallons a day.
“Progress is being made, but we need to be cautious,” he said. — AP