BP: Second System To Collect Gulf Oil Spill In Operation

LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP) Wednesday said it was collecting oil and gas from a second containment system attached to the Macondo well's failed blowout preventer, potentially allowing it to gather more of the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. BP said oil and gas from the second system reached a vessel on the surface early Wednesday, though it did not provide a figure on the volume of oil and gas passing through the new system. "Operations continue to stabilize and optimize the performance of the second containment system," BP said. BP had collected about 15,420 barrels of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill on June 14 using the lower marine riser package containment cap, the company said. The cap was placed over the well June 3. Scientists monitoring the damaged BP offshore well Tuesday raised their estimate of the amount of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico to 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day from 20,000 to 40,000 barrels a day. -By Jeffrey Sparshott, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)207 842 9347; jeffrey.sparshott@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 16, 2010 10:01 ET (14:01 GMT)