The satellite image by ESA shows the black spot of oil in the Gulf of Mexico
The crew aboard the motor vessel Poppa John train to deploy fire-resistant oil-containment boom off the coast of Venice, Louisiana
The company has seen almost £20billion wiped off its value since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20.
With the White House vowing to keep its 'boot on the throat' of BP, to make sure it pays all the costs of the spill, experts predict its losses could run to more than £11billion.
The company could also face punitive damages as BP chief Tony Hayward goes through tough congressional hearings in Washington. And Florida Governor Charlie Crist said last night his state might sue BP over any damage.
A dead fish is seen on the side of a road in Venice, Louisiana: U.S. officials closed commercial and recreational fishing for a minimum of 10 days in federal waters affected by the massive oil spill
A sign on a fishing camp in Hopedale reflects public opinion of BP in Louisiana
Oil containment booms (in orange and yellow at bottom) are staged at one of the entrance canals to Lake Pontchartrain
Prisoners from the Elayn Hunt Correctional Centre prepare to undertake a training exercise to learn how to cleanse oil from birds affected by the slick
More than 80 prisoners wearing green jumpsuits were searching for wildlife affected by the spill.
An estimated 1.6million gallons of oil have spilled since the rig exploded, killing 11 workers and forming a slick the size of Puerto Rico.
Mr Hayward, who is in Washington to coordinate the company's response, has promised to meet all 'legitimate' claims for damages.
Under laws enacted following the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, the 'responsible party' is required to pay for the clean-up.
Compensation will also have to be paid to those whose livelihoods have been destroyed.
Thousands of fishermen have been prevented from working as efforts are made to clean up the spill. Tourism could also be affected.
President Barack Obama insisted at the weekend: 'BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill'.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday: 'We will keep our boot on the throat of BP to ensure that they're doing all that they, all that is necessary, while we do all that is humanly possible to deal with this incident.'
Mr Hayward, 52, from Slough, has been fighting to save BP's reputation-with a round of TV and radio appearances.
But his toughest questioning will come later this month when he is summoned to appear before at least three Congressional committees.
Mr Hayward, who has been with BP for 28 years, has acknowledged that the company's future reputation in the U.S. rests on its response to the spill.
BP has had previous safety problems in the U.S., including the Texas City refinery explosion in 2005, which killed 15 people, and a 2006 Alaska oil spill that caused ecological damage.
The company is working round the clock to halt the spill. Welders in Louisiana are constructing a 98-tonne 40ft funnel to be placed on top of the gushing well 5,000ft below the surface.
It is designed to channel oil through a pipe to the surface, where it can be collected on a barge.
The device is expected to be ready by today and could be in place by the weekend.
BP is also using undersea robots to work on a safety valve which failed, allowing the oil to escape, and drilling a new well to help relieve the pressure and stem the flow from the rupture.
The spill has dealt a massive blow to plans by Mr Obama to expand oil drilling off the east coast.
Democratic Senator Bill Nelson said yesterday they would be 'dead on arrival' in Congress.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has also withdrawn his support for a plan to expand offshore drilling, saying TV pictures from the Gulf had changed his mind.
Coastal communities threatened by the oil slick were given fresh hope of avoiding disaster last night.
Forecasters said winds from the north would continue keep it out at sea, giving BP and hundreds of volunteers valuable time to lay inflatable boom and take other preventive measures.
Marine experts also warned against taking too dark a view, pointing out that the spill is not the worst in history.
Edward B. Overton, professor emeritus of environmental science at Louisiana State University and an expert on oil spills, said: 'Right now what people are fearing has not materialised.
People have the idea of an Exxon Valdez, with a gunky, smelly black tide looming over the horizon waiting to wash ashore.
'I do not anticipate this will happen down here unless things get a lot worse.'
His prediction came as marine experts said 29 dead turtles found on Mississippi beaches showed no outward signs of oil contamination.
Results are awaited from tests to find if they had eaten contaminated fish.
The latest satellite pictures of the slick indicate that it has shrunk since last week, but that only means that some of the oil has gone underwater.
The biggest fear in Florida is that the slick will be captured by the clockwise loop current in the Gulf of Mexico.
That could carry it across the Florida Keys, potentially wrecking fragile coral beds, and up the eastern seaboard of the U.S.
For ten of thousands of people who depend on tourism or fishing the anxious wait was still going
A huge blast onboard BP's £338million Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th killed 11, threatening catastrophe. Now there's a race against time to plug the leak...
So how will they do it? The best hope lies in capping the well with a giant, funnel-like iron box known as a cofferdam, with a hole in the top to channel oil through a pipe to the surface, where it can be collected on a barge.
• Funnel weighs 98 tonnes - equivalent of 32 4x4 'Chelsea tractors' - is 40ft high, and is being built in a Louisiana shipyard by 25 welders working around the clock at a cost of £2million. Could be ready in two days and lowered into sea this weekend.
• Attached to mile-long steel wire heavier than it is, funnel lowered by ship's crane onto seabed and manoevered into position by robot submarines (right).
• When in place, the funnel should collect up to 85 per cent of the escaping oil --though it's never been used at such depths before.
• Tactics tried - and failed - so far include attempting to use robots to activate the blow-out preventer, a huge set of valves designed to seal the well.
• Above water, more than 41 miles of floating boom (below) are being used to contain the oil, with another 58miles on standby. Clean-up is costing $6m a day, with 1,900 'federal response personnel' working round clock and 300 response vessels and aircraft.
• Other techniques which have met with mixed success include skimming the oil off the surface, burning it and dispersing it with chemical sprays.
The effect on wildlife
• Damage to wildlife could surpass Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska in 1989 when 250,000 seabirds died. Louisiana's wetlands span area equivalent to 14 Isles of Man, and used by 1.8 million migratory birds, nearly three-quarters of species of US water fowl and 110 species of songbirds. Prisoners have been brought in to help clean up birds.
• At least 30 turtles dead on beaches. Among them are Loggerheads, Leatherheads and Kemp's Ridley - most critically endangered species of sea turtle in Gulf.
• Post-mortems at the Institute for Marine and Mammal Studies will determine if creatures were killed by feeding on fish poisoned by oil. Other possibilities include the fumes affecting their breathing.
• Gulf is home to 5,000 dolphins, many heading into shallow waters to give birth. Swimming through the s lick damages their skin and eyes, and causes breathing and digestive problems.
• Multi-billion-dollar fishing industry provides one third of seafood caught in US and could be devastated if slick moves into inland waterways and marshes that act as 'nurseries' for shrimp, crabs and crayfish. Also under threat are two man-made oyster reefs, each ten miles long.
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