Gulf Disaster

Engineers Lower Oil Cap Over Leak

Containment likely to face "complications."

Undersea robots have dropped a 100-ton box over the site of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, and are preparing to connect the container to a drill ship which would then evacuate oil from the site as early as next week. The success of the project is far from certain: "We should recognize that this hasn’t been done before,” said BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles. “We should expect it will undoubtedly have some complications. But we’re committed to trying to make this work.” The robots were rigged with cameras and lights to help engineers properly guide it to the right location on the sea floor. If successful, the four-story cap will reduce the oil spill by as much as 85 percent, as oil will be pumped from the box into a tanker on the surface, but the containment dome is not expected to be installed until next week.