BP’s containment cap is capturing an increasing amount of oil spewing from a ruptured Gulf of Mexico well, but the US admiral leading the government relief effort said on Sunday the coast will be under siege from the massive spill for many more months.

BP said its latest effort had captured 10,500 barrels of oil (439,950 gallons/1.67 million litres) in 24 hours and a second containment system should enable it to soon control the vast majority of oil spewing from the leak about 1 mile (1.6 km) below the water’s surface. The progress came as the company’s chief executive Tony Hayward said he has no plans to quit over his handling of the environmental disaster marked by a string of failures since the 20 April rig explosion that triggered the oil spill.

Thad Allen, the coast guard admiral heading up the federal relief effort, estimated the maximum collection from the containment device at about 15,000 barrels a day. Estimates put the well’s leak at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.

Despite the progress, Allen  said “This will only end when we intercept the wellbore, pump mud down it to overcome the pressure of the oil coming up from the reservoir and put a cement plug in.  This will be well into the fall. This is a siege across the entire Gulf. This spill is holding everybody hostage, not only economically but physically, and it has to be attacked on all fronts.”

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