VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) – Oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico came ashore on a chain of islands off the Louisiana coast on Thursday as BP Plc engineers prepared to start lowering a 98-ton metal chamber over the ruptured seabed well miles off the coast.

A sheen of oil washed ashore on much of Chandeleur Islands, barrier islands that are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. response team said.

By Matthew Bigg

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – BP engineers prepared on Thursday to start lowering a 98-ton metal chamber over a ruptured undersea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, trying to control a spill that threatens an environmental catastrophe for the U.S. shoreline.

The barge carrying the massive white-painted box arrived at the site of the spill where a BP-owned well blew out two weeks ago 40 miles/64 km off the Louisiana coast, causing the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

By Matthew Bigg

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – Oil workers, volunteers and the military prepared to toil for another day in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday in an attempt to plug a gushing oil leak and protect the U.S. coast from an environmental nightmare.

Meanwhile, questions arose about regulators’ practice of granting exemptions from environmental impact studies for some oil exploration projects deemed to involve little risk, as was the case with the approval for BP’s ill-fated well.

VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) – Workers toiled above and below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday to plug a gushing oil leak and protect the U.S. shoreline in one of the biggest spill containment efforts ever mounted.

London-based energy giant BP loaded a massive metal device on a barge that is designed to channel the flow of leaking oil from the seabed to a drilling ship on the surface.

By Matthew Bigg

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – Teams of oil spill workers were set to take to advantage of at least one more day of calm in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday to keep fighting to contain a huge and growing slick before winds turn against them.

Cleanup crews waiting on shore along the U.S. Gulf have had a few days reprieve as the slow-moving slick, from oil spewing from a damaged deep-water well, remained parked in waters that are placid, for now.

VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) – A flotilla of nearly 200 boats tackled a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, taking advantage of calm weather to intensify containment efforts while a scientist warned that a powerful current could carry the crude to Miami and points beyond.

Cleanup crews waiting on shore along the U.S. Gulf got a few days reprieve as the slow-moving slick remained parked in the Gulf waters that are calm, for now.

By Matthew Bigg

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – A flotilla of nearly 200 boats tackled a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, taking advantage of calm weather to intensify the fight to reduce the spill and limit its impact on the U.S. shoreline.

Energy giant BP Plc, under heavy pressure in Washington, struggled to plug a gushing undersea leak that threatened to wreak havoc on Gulf Coast fishing and tourism and reshape the U.S. political debate on offshore drilling.

By Matthew Bigg

GOLDEN MEADOW, La. (Reuters) – BP Plc sought to stem the damage from a giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico with technology, welding torches and money on Tuesday as crude kept spewing from an offshore oil well deep in the Gulf of Mexico that ruptured almost two weeks ago.

The British oil company, under pressure from Washington to limit the damage, said it will try containing the crude with a massive metal, funnel-like structure. BP said it has offered the Gulf Coast states whose shores could be soiled with oil millions of dollars to move forward with recovery projects.

GOLDEN MEADOW, Louisiana (Reuters) – BP Plc raced against time on Monday to build a funnel to help contain a busted well that is gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico but the energy giant is unsure it will work.

The funnel is a 98-ton, 40-foot iron box that resembles a primitive space rocket with a hole on top to channel oil through a pipe from the sea floor to the surface where it can be collected on a barge.

VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) – Energy giant BP Plc indicated some progress on Monday toward capping the underwater well that ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico almost two weeks ago, pushing a giant oil slick toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The looming ecological and economic disaster has started to fuel high-level opposition to the Obama administration’s push to open more waters to oil drilling to bolster U.S. energy security, as governments question a potentially high toll to oil spills.