Giant oil skimmer tested in Gulf

Gulf of Mexico cleanup crews working to block millions of litres of oil from reaching land may soon have a giant on their side if a weekend test of a new skimmer goes well.

The Taiwanese vessel dubbed A Whale, described by its owners as the largest oil skimmer in the world, began showing its capabilities on Saturday just north of the Macondo Deepwater well site.

An April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig there killed 11 workers and began what is now the largest oil spill in Gulf history.

The vessel will cruise a 65-square-kilometre test site through Sunday, according to TMT Shipping, the company that created A Whale by retrofitting an oil tanker after the explosion sent millions of litres of crude into the Gulf.

The U.S. Coast Guard and BP are waiting to see if the vessel — which is 10 storeys high and longer than three football fields — can live up to its maker's promise of being able to process up to 76 million litres of oil-fouled water a day.

The ship works by taking in water through 12 vents, separating the oil and pumping the cleaned seawater back into the Gulf.

"In many ways, the ship collects water like an actual whale and pumps internally like a human heart," TMT spokesman Bob Grantham said in an email.

A Whale is being tested close to the wellhead because officials believe it will be most effective where the oil is thickest rather than closer to shore.

The ship arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday, but officials have wanted to test its capability as well as have the federal Environmental Protection Agency sign off on the water it will pump back into the Gulf. Although the ship cleans most of the oil from seawater, trace amounts of crude remain.

The wait has frustrated some local officials, who say the mammoth skimmer could be a game-changer in preventing drifting streams of oil from washing ashore on vulnerable coastlines.

A smaller flotilla of oil skimmers was back at work along the Gulf coast Saturday after being forced to stand down for several days because of nasty weather whipped up by distant Hurricane Alex.

The bad weather also delayed the hookup of a vessel called the Helix Producer at the wellhead. The ship can collect up to 25,000 barrels of oil a day, which would virtually double the amount now being captured at the site by two other vessels and then burned or transferred to other tankers.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's point person in the oil spill response, said Friday crews will resume getting the Helix Producer in place over the weekend, with production starting around July 7.