The US government has ordered BP to submit a plan for reopening its capped well in the Gulf¹ of Mexico amid concerns that oil may be seeping³ from the ocean floor near the well.

美国政府下令英国石油公司向其递交一份重新开启墨西哥湾海底油井的方案，美国政府担心石油可能会从油井附近的海底岩层渗出。

Boats on the surface are ready to resume collecting the oil

The US official in charge of cleaning up the oil spill, Thad Allen, said the plan would have to be implemented⁴（实施，执行） as soon as possible if this was confirmed.

Once the cap was released, oil would once again be funnelled⁵（汇集） to the surface.

However, BP says it will take three days to start this process.

During this time, oil would be released into the sea.

The well began leaking oil into the Gulf after BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on 20 April, killing⁶ 11 workers, and capsized（覆没） two days later.

BP had hoped the cap could stay in place until relief wells stop the leak for good.

But with pressure readings from within the well lower than expected, scientists had raised concerns that oil could leaking into the surrounding undersea bedrock.

And in a letter to BP chief managing director Bob Dudley, Admiral Allen said: "Given the current observations... including the detected seep² a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies（异常现象） at the well head, monitoring of the seabed is of paramount⁷（最重要的） importance...

"I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve（节流阀） as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon⁸（氢氧化合物） seepage⁹（渗漏） near the well head be confirmed."

The flow of oil from the well was shut off by the cap at 1425 local time (1925 GMT) on Thursday and testing has continued since then.

Work on both of the relief wells designed to close off the well permanently¹⁰ is currently suspended because of the testing.

'Worst disaster'

The Gulf of Mexico spill has been described as the worst environmental disaster the US has seen.

The subsequent spill has affected¹¹ hundreds of miles of Gulf coastline since April, with serious economic damage to the region as tourists have avoided Gulf Coast beaches and fishing grounds have remained closed.

BP has put the costs of dealing¹² with the disaster at over $3.5bn (£2.3bn).

It has already paid out more than $200m to 32,000 claimants（原告，索赔人） . The company is evaluating a further 17,000 for payment and is seeking more information on 61,000 other claims.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is to meet Mr Obama in Washington on Tuesday, and BP - formerly¹³ British Petroleum¹⁴ - is expected to be a key topic of discussion.