BP launches live camera of Gulf oil leak
Updated on 21 May 2010
BP says 2,200 barrels of oil a day are being siphoned from the leak in the Gulf of Mexico as a live underwater camera is launched showing the spill and the efforts to contain it.
The live camera sits 5,000ft below sea level and shows the leaking pipe along with a containment devise aimed at siphoning the oil to the surface where it is then stored in a drillship.
Crude oil and gas that BP have yet to be able to contain can also be seen on the footage as it gushes from the ruptured pipe. Watch the live stream here.
BP say they have been providing the live stream to the US government, coastguard and others for the past two week. BP scientists and engineers have also been viewing the video in an effort to monitor and stop the spill.
Once on the drillship the siphoned oil is then stored and the gas flared. The oil giant ha said that the as the system designed to contain parts of the leak, known as the riser insertion tube tool, is still new it's efficiently is still uncertain.
BP announced today that the capture rate from the new pipe has dropped to just over 2,000 barrels of crude oil in a 24-hr period - down from 5,000 recorded earlier this week.
"The flow changes, it's not constant," BP spokesman John Curry said on Friday.
The company is under increasing pressure from the U.S government to provide data on the flow rate of the well and contain the leak, which is causing a massive oil slick along a fragile coastline teeming with birds, animals and fish.
The US government has criticised BP of "falling short" of providing data about the Gulf of Mexico spill.
The Obama administration said BP should act in a "transparent manner" and "promptly" make all information public.
The leak began on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon after a fire caused it to sink at the end of April. 11 workers were killed in the blast.
Crude oil from the spill has already reached Louisiana and could also come ashore in Florida and Cuba threatening wildlife and the livelihood of the local fishing industry.
