UPDATE: BP's 2nd System To Collect Gulf Oil Spill Operating

(Adds background.) 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. The vessel, called the Q4000, attached to the new oil collection system will enable BP to capture between 20,000 and 28,000 barrels of oil a day in total from the leaking well. BP collected and stored about 10,440 barrels of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill on June 15 using the lower marine riser package containment cap attached to the Discoverer Enterprise vessel. Between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day are estimated to be leaking from the well, according to the U.S. authorities. BP said oil and gas from the second system reached the Q4000 early Wednesday. "Operations continue to stabilize and optimize the performance of the second containment system," BP said. The additional oil collected by the Q4000 will be burned off rather than stored, BP said. BP hopes to have two additional ships in place by the end of June that will bring the total volume of oil it can capture from the leaking well to between 40,000 and 53,000 barrels a day. The operation to capture the oil leaking from the well is complex and has its own risks. Containment was suspended briefly Tuesday after the Discoverer Enterprise was struck by lightning, causing a small fire. The whole containment operation would have to be suspended if a hurricane was to strike the area. -By Jeffrey Sparshott and James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)207 842 9347; jeffrey.sparshott@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 16, 2010 11:13 ET (15:13 GMT)