Oil Spill Not Imminent Threat To Shorelines - Coast Guard

MOBILE, Ala. -(Dow Jones)- Oil leaking from a deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico is not yet an imminent threat to the coastline in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.
Coast Guard officials said oil sheen has appeared in Louisiana at Chandeleur Island and South Pass. Also, 'tar balls' have washed up on beaches in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama this week.

But favorable weather patterns and offshore containment efforts through controlled burns, skimming and the use of dispersement chemicals continue to keep the oil away from coastlines in the northern Gulf, said Capt. Steven Poulin, Coast Guard incident commander in Mobile, during a press briefing Thursday."

"The environmental factors right now seem to be keeping the oil offshore. It allows us an opportunity to implement our strategy," he said.

The Gulf spill resulted from the explosion and sinking in April of the Transocean Ltd. (RIG, RIGN.EB) Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which was finishing a well for BP PLC (BP, BP.LN). Eleven members of the crew were killed by the blast.

A BP spokesman earlier Thursday said that the company will deploy a top hat- shaped dome to try to contain the spill over the next few days, or possibly next week. Company officials had previously predicted that the dome would be in place by the end of this week.

A BP official who attended the press briefing declined to comment further on efforts under way to stop the Gulf leak.

Thousands of people are preparing for possible additional coastal impacts, from the Louisiana National Guard setting up protective dams on barrier islands to a boom system being floated at the mouth of Mobile Bay to protect one of the nation's largest estuaries.
-By Mark Peters, Dow Jones Newswires, mark.peters@dowjones.com, 212-416-2457