VENICE, La., May 30 (UPI) -- Top U.S. officials told President Barack Obama the Gulf of Mexico oil spill flow rate could increase by 20 percent before it is contained, the White House said.
In a statement issued Sunday, the administration said the president has ordered a tripling of government and contractor resources in the response to the spill. The statement said Obama had been briefed Sunday by Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the commander of the U.S. response to the spill, and by Carol Browner, an assistant to the president for energy and climate change.
During the briefing, the president was updated on oil skimming, dispersing and burn operations and on energy giant BP's efforts to move equipment into place for use in installing "an alternate containment device," the statement said.
Allen indicated Sunday that officials in the region have stepped up efforts to "be more responsive to needs identified by local communities."
It could take a week to put in place a containment cap in the latest attempt to stop the flow of oil, BP said. The company Saturday abandoned the "top kill" method -- pumping in 30,000 barrels of heavy mud over three days -- after it failed to stem the flow of oil.
Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said at a Saturday news conference it would take four to seven days to put the containment cap in place in hopes of ending the biggest oil leak in U.S. history.
"This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far," Suttles said. ``Many of the things we're trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet.''
In the latest attempt, robots on the seafloor a mile beneath the service are to cut a riser pipe and cap it.
Obama, who toured the gulf region last week, said Saturday night the persistent spill is "as enraging as it is heartbreaking."
"Every day that this leak continues is an assault on the people of the Gulf Coast region, their livelihoods, and the natural bounty that belongs to all of us," Obama said in a statement.
Obama said some experts believe the leak will be stopped only with completion of two relief wells, which could take until August. The relief wells are designed to remove enough pressure to cap the open one.
As much as 19,000 barrels of oil a day have been flowing into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform that killed 11 workers.
