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HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) recovered about 23,395 barrels of oil a day on Monday from the broken Macondo well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Alex headed away from the operation and toward Mexico. BP said Tuesday that of that total Monday it collected about 15,310 barrels of oil and flared about 8,050 barrels of oil. About 54.1 million cubic feet of natural gas was flared. Even though Tropical Storm Alex is not tracking toward the well, the system is expected to delay by a week BP's plan to increase the amount of oil collected from the leaking well. Waves of 10 to 12 feet would prevent BP from connecting a third vessel to an underwater containment system, a BP executive said Monday. When this system is put in place BP should be able to increase the amount of oil that it is vacuumed from the leak at between 40,000 to 50,000 barrels a day. Federal and independent scientists estimate that between 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day could be leaking from the well. -By Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208; susan.daker@dowjones.com Order free Annual Report for BP plc Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=BP or call 1-888-301-0513 (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 29, 2010 10:53 ET (14:53 GMT)