BP Pledges to Clean Up 'Every Drop' of Gulf Oil Spill

(Wall Street Journal) - BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward damped hopes Monday that his company could soon cap the oil well leaking into the Gulf of Mexico but pledged to "clean up every drop of oil off the beach and return the communities of the Gulf to normal," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Also Monday, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said he would recommend against the government taking over the effort to plug the leaking oil well from BP, indicating that the government doesn't have the technology to do more than BP is doing already.

Hayward made an appearance on the oil-fouled beach in Port Fourchon, La., as his company came under increasing criticism from the Obama administration, which has sent four cabinet officers down to the Gulf to ratchet up pressure on the company.

Hayward said it was necessary to be realistic about the likelihood that the company will succeed later this week in using a so-called "top-kill" procedure to stem the leak, putting its chances of success at 60 percent to 70 percent.

"It has never been tried in 5,000 feet of water," he told reporters Monday, standing in a blue shirt and khaki pants on a beach as dozens of workers clad in white protective suits and green gloves shoveled up pools of gooey oil on the sand.

He reiterated that BP was readying other methods to stop the leak if it doesn't succeed with the top kill, in which heavy drilling mud and then cement will be pumped into the well.

Responding to increasingly angry criticism from Obama administration officials, Hayward said the spill "is clearly a major reputational issue for BP." He also said BP needed to improve techniques to keep more of the oil slick in the Gulf from washing ashore.

Meanwhile, Obama administration officials, in Louisiana and in Washington, tried during a series of appearances Monday to respond to criticism that the federal response to the huge spill is slow and inadequate.

Some critics on the left have suggested in recent days that the administration should push BP aside and take direct responsibility for efforts to cap the leaking well a mile below the surface of the Gulf.

But the Coast Guard's Adm. Allen, who's leading the federal disaster response in the Gulf, said at a White House news conference that the government doesn't have the technology to do more than BP is doing already. He said he has discussed BP's plans with leaders of rival oil companies.

"Given the operations as we understand them now, there's no reason to make a change. It's very difficult. It's 5,000 feet below the surface and it's never been done before," Allen said.

Source: Wall Street Journal