By Susan Daker Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HOUSTON (DOW JONES)--Government officials are in talks with other energy companies about using some of their assets to help contain the oil spewing from BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) Macondo well, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Tuesday. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary Ken Salazar spoke with representatives of oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico last week in Washington about the possibility of using their platforms or pipelines, Allen said in a news conference. Allen didn't name any of the companies involved, but said they are providing documents about what assets they can lend to the effort. "We've actually identified a couple of platforms that are in the area that might be capable of taking the product," Allen said. The other assets could increase the amount of oil that BP can capture, Allen said. A team of government and independent scientists estimate that about 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are flowing from the damaged well. On Monday, BP captured more than 25,000 barrels of oil by either flaring or collecting and storing the oil. BP hopes to increase its ability to collect oil to 53,000 barrels a day by next week. The pipelines could also allow the operation to continue in the event of a hurricane, Allen said. In the past, he has said that a hurricane or other major storm could halt BP's current containment operation, allowing the oil to be released into the Gulf. Allen said the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are currently watching a low pressure system developing in the southern Caribbean. Meteorologists estimate that more hurricanes could form this summer compared to an average year. Allen said it's unclear how many other assets would be made available. The government is also interested in using the pipelines in the event that BP's two relief wells fail. Drilling of the first relief well--a challenging process--is scheduled to be finished by the second week of August. -By Susan Daker, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208; susan.daker@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 22, 2010 13:39 ET (17:39 GMT)