Cap device contains 6,000 barrels from Gulf oil spill

GRAND ISLE: BP's latest bid to contain the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill registered a first small success, capturing 6,000 barrels of oil in 24 hours, the US official overseeing the spill response said.

The figure is dwarfed by estimates that up to 19,000 barrels a day could be spewing from the leaking well, but was a rare note of success for the embattled British firm.

"In the first full 24-hour cycle, yesterday (Friday) as they bring the production level up, they were able to bring up and produce 6,000 barrels of oil from the well," said retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen at a press briefing.

"The goal is to continue that production, and raise it up," he added.

The latest containment effort involves a cap placed over the leak that gathers the oil, allowing it to be siphoned up via a pipe to a container ship.

It is a modified version of an effort tried earlier in BP's six-week effort to stem the crude gushing from a ruptured underwater pipe after the Deepwater Horizon rig it leased exploded before sinking into the sea on April 22.

The earlier attempt failed because cold temperatures and high pressure at the leak site, some 5,000 meters down, caused the oil to form a sludge that could not be siphoned.

The cap has been redesigned with valves that can be slowly shut down to help prevent the buildup of gas hydrates -- similar to ice crystals -- that doomed the first attempt.

"What they're slowly doing is increasing production to the well bore and up to the ship," Allen said.