BP CEO hopes Gulf oil leak stopped within 10 days

LONDON: BP's chief executive says he hopes the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico can be stopped in a week to 10 days but the worst case scenario is ``more than that, and it's impossible to say how much more''.

In an interview Saturday with the BBC, CEO Tony Hayward said BP was doing its best to mitigate the damage in the Gulf.

But Hayward said the leak won't stop deep water oil exploration ``in the same way as Apollo 13 did not stop the space program, nor have serious airline accidents from time to time stopped people flying.''

He said it was important to learn lessons from the oil rig accident to prevent a recurrence.

Hayward also defended the US regulatory process for oil rigs, calling it ``very rigorous.''