BP’s latest slip-up has U.S. ‘preparing for the worst’ of oil spill - by Shawn McCarthy and Josh Wingrove

Another capping attempt, another failure, and now the Obama administration is preparing the American public for the worst: the possibility that BP’s blown-out well could gush for another two months with near-apocalyptic impact on the Gulf of Mexico’s environment and economy.

BP has scrapped its “top kill” effort to plug the well by injecting heavy drilling mud into it, and was preparing on Sunday to deploy another strategy: a cap that would allow the company to cover the well and siphon the crude into tankers waiting 1,500 metres above the sea floor.

But a senior White House official warned that BP is running out of options to contain the spewing oil, and the end may not come until it can complete the drilling of two relief wells, expected some time in early August.

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