BP in key bid to seal oil well as families honour the dead

THE 11 victims of last month's deadly rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico which triggered an environmental disaster were last night due to be honoured at a memorial service as BP prepared for a crucial attempt to seal a blown-out well.

The US government has piled pressure on BP to clean up the "massive mess" and a top official said fines would be imposed on the energy giant.

The company insisted it was doing all it could to try to stop the underwater well spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf every day, a disaster that threatens to become the worst oil spill in US history.

BP said it would make another attempt to plug the leak today, but gave it only a 60 to 70 per cent chance of success. Officials last night warned that the timing of the latest effort to stop the leak "could extend".

"In terms of when the actual kill might go forward, the earliest would be tomorrow and it could extend on from there," BP senior vice president Kent Wells said last night, referring to the "top kill" procedure, in which BP plans to inject heavy fluids and then cement into the seabed well to block oil flow.

If short-term efforts fail, it will take BP several months to drill a relief well to stop the leak.

Relatives of the victims in the 20 April explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon rig were due to hold a private service in Jackson, Mississippi last night.

Heavy oil is washing into fragile marshlands and wildlife refuges in Louisiana and threatening the livelihoods of Gulf Coast residents.

US interior secretary Ken Salazar previously said the government could push BP aside and federalise the clean-up effort if it did not do enough to stop the leak.

However, Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen, the US government's response chief for the disaster, said the administration has little choice but to continue relying on BP to seal the well.

"To push BP out of the way would raise the question of 'replace them with what?'" Mr Allen said.

He added that BP was "exhausting every technical means possible" to meet its legal responsibility to contain the oil.

The oil spill is a political hot potato for the Obama administration before a November election that is widely expected to erode Democrats' control of the US Congress.

Analysts warn that voters may punish Democrats regardless of who is deemed responsible.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, who has been critical of the federal government's response, again called for more equipment to help stop the oil from making landfall.

A report on the disaster that will influence whether the interior department resumes issuing offshore drilling permits will be sent to Mr Obama tomorrow, the White House said.

BP said the spill had cost it 526 million so far. It has pledged up to 346 million toward studying its impact.

Meanwhile, an expert last night warned that oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico could become more polluting.

University of California engineering professor Bob Bea said a change in colour of the oil from grey to black, may indicate the leak has hit a reservoir of more oil and less gas. Gas is less polluting because it evaporates.

BP officials last night said the colour change was a natural fluctuation.