Deep Horizon leak may not be over

Oil may be seeping from the ocean floor near the cap which BP placed successfully over the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday.

Lower pressure readings than expected inside the cap have led some scientists to speculate that methane and oil are leaking from the seabed.

Admiral Thad Allen, who is leading the clean-up operation, has ordered BP to submit a plan to reopen the capped well if the seepage is confirmed. Oil could then be funnelled to the surface.

BP, which hoped the cap would temporarily stem the flow of oil until a relief well is finished, says this process would take three days.

This morning BP released a statement saying the pressure inside the well has been measured at approximately 6792psi and is rising slowly.

“Extensive monitoring activities are being carried out around the well site… Depending upon the results of the test and monitoring activities… [further] steps may include extending the well integrity test or returning to containment options,” it read.

Conspiracy stories about the disaster circulating on the web include a theory that the Deep Horizon rig punctured a giant methane bubble beneath the ocean bed. If all the methane is released, so the theory goes, it will cause mass extinction across the planet.