Funnel Plan to Battle Gulf Spill

A giant iron funnel being built in a bid to halt the huge spill from a Gulf of Mexico well will be deployed to the seabed on Thursday, British Petroleum says.

The 98-tonne, dome-topped box being built by steel workers will be connected to a drill ship and lowered to the sea floor. BP has never deployed such a structure at a depth of 5,000ft (1,500 metres) and difficulties may occur, it says.

"There's no guarantees. We'll undoubtedly encounter some issues as we go through that process. But if that was a good outcome, then you would have the principal leak contained by the early part of next week," BP boss Tony Hayward told AP news agency.

Asked by Reuters if he was confident it would work, BP spokesman John Curry said: "We sure hope so."If not, we will keep trying other options until something does work. I think we have some great engineers and they have worked very hard."

BP has accepted it is "absolutely responsible" for cleaning up the spill caused by a blast on a drilling rig. Its shares have plunged more than 15% since the 22 April explosion. It is estimated that the clean-up could cost BP up to $15bn.

BP insists that the rig's contractor, Transocean, was to blame for the accident but, under US law, it has to bear the cost of the clean-up as the operator of the oilfield. Both companies are expecting lawsuits over the slick, which US President Barack Obama described as a "potentially unprecedented" environmental disaster.