BP officials desperately searched for a new fix to the enormous Gulf of Mexico oil spill after efforts to cap a gushing leak with a containment dome hit a perilous snag. British energy giant BP, which owns the lion's share of the leaking oil and has accepted responsibility for the clean-up, is facing the jaw-dropping possibility that, failing a swift fix it has yet to deliver with a containment dome, the crisis could spiral into an even worse environmental calamity.
Elastec American Marine, the largest manufacturer of Oil Spill Equipment in North America, has supplied thousands of metres of containment boom to help in the clean-up effort. The company has also supplied skimmer systems to remove the oil from the water surface; several Hydro Fire Boom Systems used for controlled burning of the oil; and a NeatSweep dispersant system, which sprays oil dispersant in a controlled process. The NeatSweep system is a new efficient means of applying dispersant chemicals onto an oil slick. The system works by funneling and concentrating the oil on the water’s surface before the chemical is applied. Traditional methods spray chemicals onto inconsistent oil layers spread out over water. The result is that dispersant usage can be reduced by up to 50%.
Elastec American Marine is also manufacturing an additional 76,000 metres of Optimax Containment Boom for immediate deployment to the oil spill. OptiMax is a strong versatile containment boom meeting OPA 90 specification for use in rivers, streams and near shore ocean environments. OptiMax II is the contractor's boom of choice for rivers and streams where conditions such as a fast current may exist that requires additional buoyancy reserve. Bulbeck EnviroSolutions is the Australian and South Pacific Distributor for Elastec and Spill COntrol Manager, Brett Lee, says "the Optimax boom has been one of the most popular containment booms because of its versatility and strength".
The BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank some 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Venice, Louisiana April 22, two days after an explosion that killed 11 workers. 
The riser pipe that had connected the rig to the wellhead now lies fractured on the seabed a mile below, spewing out oil at a rate at some 5,000 barrels, or 900,000 litres, a day.
Sheen from the leading edge of the slick has surrounded island nature reserves off the coast of Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast, threatening tourist beaches further east.
BP, facing a barrage of lawsuits and clean-up costs soaring above 10 million dollars a day, had pinned its hopes on a 98-ton concrete and steel containment box that it successfully lowered 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) down over the main leak. But the contraption lay idle on the seabed as engineers furiously tried to figure out how to stop it clogging with ice crystals.
“I wouldn't say it's failed yet,” BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said on Saturday. “What we attempted to do last night didn't work because these (ice crystal) hydrates plugged up the top of the dome.” Clearing out the slushy crystals is easy -- the chamber just has to be raised to warmer levels, Suttles told reporters. Keeping the crystals out so that a pipe can be lowered into the dome to suck the oil to a waiting barge is another matter.
Still, if efforts fail to make the giant funnel system effective, there is no solid plan B to prevent potentially tens of millions of gallons of crude from causing one of the worst ever environmental catastrophes.
There are also fears the slick, which covers an area of about 2,000 square miles (5,200 square kilometers), could be carried around the Florida peninsula if it spreads far enough south to be picked up by a special Gulf current.
BP began drilling a first relief well one week ago, but that will take up to three months to drill -- by which time some 75 million litres of crude could have streamed into the sea and ruined the fragile ecology of the Gulf.
