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British oil company BP said Thursday a tube inserted into an undersea gusher over the weekend was now siphoning 5,000 barrels of oil a day, but a video showed crude continuing to leak from the ruptured well.
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![Ships work around a barge funnelling some of the leaking oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in this aerial view over the Gulf of Mexico May 18, 2010. [Xinhua]](../../attachement/jpg/site1007/20100521/000cf1bdd03f0d6038f505.jpg "Ships work around a barge funnelling some of the leaking oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in this aerial view over the Gulf of Mexico May 18, 2010. [Xinhua]")
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Ships work around a barge funnelling some of the leaking oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in this aerial view over the Gulf of Mexico May 18, 2010. [Xinhua]
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"The oil plume escaping from the riser pipe has visibly declined today," BP spokesman Mark Proegler said.
However, a live video feed from the seafloor provided by BP showed a black plume of crude oil still billowing out into the deep waters, confirming earlier fears that the amount of escaping oil was much higher than BP's previous estimate, which put the leak at 5,000 barrels a day.
A group of scientists testified Wednesday to a Congressional subcommittee that the leak rate, based on prior video segments of the leaking well, may range between 25,000 barrels and 100,000 barrels a day.
Proegler also admitted the tube was not siphoning all the oil leak. "We're not claiming that we stopped it -- although that is our final objective. We're saying that this is what we're capturing now."
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