BP Successfully Inserts Tube Into Leak Site !!

May 16th 2010 Oil Spill Update

(CNN) -- Oil company BP says it has resumed pumping oil to a ship on the surface after a weekend setback that halted efforts to siphon off the crude spewing from a damaged well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

Crews re-inserted the tube into the well's riser stack Sunday. The 4-inch pipe is now connected to a ship on the surface, 5,000 feet above the sea floor, and is pumping oil back to the surface, BP spokesman Mark Proegler told CNN.

If successful, the technique will capture most of the oil that is pouring out of the well. The well has been spewing an estimated 210,000 gallons, or 5,000 barrels, of light sweet crude a day into the Gulf since the sinking of the drill platform Deepwater Horizon in late April.

"In terms of containing the flow, this was a positive step forward," said Kent Wells, a senior vice president for BP.

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Suttles said the application of underwater dispersants -- a tactic approved for use Friday -- appears to be working.

"The oil in the immediate vicinity of the well and the ships and rigs working in the area is diminished from previous observations," he said after flying over the area Saturday.

The Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that the decision to use subsea dispersants is an "important step" aimed at reducing potential damage from the spill, because dispersants can be more effective underwater than on the ocean's surface.

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