BP Hopes to Have Small Containment Dome in Place by Late Thursday

Energy giant BP was preparing on Thursday to once again try and staunch the unchecked flow of oil from a ruptured well that threatens an environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo: BP Hopes to Have Small Containment Dome in Place by Late Thursday

BP Plc (BP.L), operator of the well off Louisiana's coast, said it hoped to have a small containment dome in place by late Thursday, its latest attempt to plug the roughly 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) a day of gushing crude, Reuters reports.

The Obama administration will propose raising the cap on economic damages from the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and extend aid to people and businesses affected by the leak, Carol Browner, the president’s adviser on energy and climate change.

A law enacted after the Exxon Valdez spill capped economic liability for such an event at $75 million. There is a move in Congress to raise that limit to $10 billion, applied retroactively to the BP spill. There is no limit on the amount the company has to pay for cleanup and recovery, BusinessWeek says.