BP Optimistic on New Oil Cap; Containment Could Take 6 More Days, But Company Is Pleased With Progress

BP officials displayed an air of optimism at the new attempt to capture the leaking oil, but their efforts also meant that oil was flowing unimpeded from the well head until the new cap can be put in place.

"We're in day two, so we should anticipate that this should take another three to five, six days," BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells said during a briefing Sunday. "But if everything goes extremely well, then we'll be on the shorter end of that [range]."

Mr. Wells earlier in the day said the company was pleased with the progress of the four-stage installation process.

The effort comes more than 12 weeks after a BP-leased rig, Transocean Ltd.'s Deepwater Horizon, burned and sank, unleashing the spill that has fouled the coasts of at least four states and killed untold numbers of sea creatures and birds.

BP simultaneously is working to bring online a third containment vessel, the Helix Producer. Mr. Wells said the procedure hit a small snag overnight, but that oil collection should start ramping up Sunday evening, with full capacity reached in about three days.