国际英语新闻：BP captures 5,000 barrels a day as oil continues leaking into Gulf of Mexico

HOUSTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- British oil company BP said Thursday a tube inserted into an undersea gusher over the weekend was now siphoning 5,000 barrels of oil a day, but a video showed crude continuing to leak from the ruptured well.

"The oil plume escaping from the riser pipe has visibly declined today," BP spokesman Mark Proegler said.

However, a live video feed from the seafloor provided by BP showed a black plume of crude oil still billowing out into the deep waters, confirming earlier fears that the amount of escaping oil was much higher than BP's previous estimate, which put the leak at 5,000 barrels a day.

A group of scientists testified Wednesday to a Congressional subcommittee that the leak rate, based on prior video segments of the leaking well, may range between 25,000 barrels and 100,000 barrels a day.

Proegler also admitted the tube was not siphoning all the oil leak. "We're not claiming that we stopped it -- although that is our final objective. We're saying that this is what we're capturing now."

Cleanup of oil from the surface continued Thursday. A BP statement issued Thursday said there are 1,040 vessels and 24,700 personnel involved in the response.

BP has been using chemical dispersants to break up the oil slick into small droplets that can be digested by microbes. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday asked BP to find a less toxic dispersant than the one BP currently uses.