Frustration grows as BP fails to plug disastrous oil leak

THE BP executive in charge of fighting a Gulf of Mexico oil spill acknowledged yesterday that everyone is frustrated at his company's failure to plug the leak more than a month into a disaster that is spreading damage in Louisiana's wetlands, including miring pelican colonies.

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer at BP PLC, went on all three US network morning talks shows with the same message: BP knows frustration is growing that it hasn't been able to halt the spill of millions of gallons of oil from a well that blew out after a rig explosion 20 April off the Louisiana coast.

"We are doing everything we can," Mr Suttles said on the NBC Today show.

Company spokesman John Curry said it would be tomorrow at the earliest before BP could try using heavy mud and cement to plug the leak, a manoeuvre called a top kill that represents the best hope of stopping the oil after several failed attempts. BP initially said it would try today, but Mr Curry said more time was needed to get equipment in place and test it.

Earlier, the Obama administration raised questions over BP's competence, with interior secretary Ken Salazar saying he was "not completely" confident in the firm's actions.

"If we find they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately," Mr Salazar said.

Asked about Mr Salazar's criticism, Mr Suttles said BP was working with experts from other oil companies and the government to find a solution.

"Everyone is frustrated. I think the people of the region are frustrated. I know we are, I know the government is," Mr Suttles said. "The fact that it's taken this long is painful to everybody."

The White House said over the weekend that the justice department had been gathering information about the oil spill. Press secretary Robert Gibbs refused to say whether the department had opened a criminal investigation.

Mr Salazar and homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday led a Senate delegation to the region to fly over affected areas.

Even if BP's top kill procedure works this week, the damage has been done.

With oil pushing at least 12 miles into Louisiana's marshes and two major pelican rookeries now coated in crude, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said the state had begun work on a chain of berms, reinforced with containment booms, that would skirt the state's coastline.

"As we talk, a total of more than 65 miles of our shoreline now has been oiled," Mr Jindal said.

The governor said the berms would close the door on oil still pouring from a mile-deep gusher about 50 miles out in the Gulf.

The berms would be made with sandbags; the US army corps of engineers also is considering a broader plan that would use dredging to build sand berms across more of the barrier islands.

At least six million gallons of crude have spewed into the Gulf, though some scientists have said they believe the spill surpasses the 11 million gallon 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska as the worst in US history.