Storm not a threat for BP spill site

According to the United States Coast Guard, the tropical storm Alex that is raging in the Atlantic Ocean is not currently a threat for the containment operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

United States Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen in a conference call told reporters that BP may be forced to stop all containment and collection operations in the Gulf of Mexico if the storm starts moving towards the spill site. He also informed the media that according to forecasts the storm is projected to move away from the place of the spill.

The storm is most likely to emerge in the Gulf of Mexico late on Sunday and is expected to head towards land after that and end up as a mild hurricane.

According to some official estimates around 24,000 barrels of oil is being collected from the spill site each day and this could take a hit if an evacuation was required. Also evacuating the site could take upto five days as the containment cap would have to removed and pipes collecting the oil dismantled.

In other news the U.S. government has decided to review a new containment plan that could help collect about 80,000 barrels of oil each day.