BP pledges to clean up US oil spill

British Petroleum is still racing against time to build a funnel to help contain the busted oil rig which is gushing oil into the Mexican Gulf - but the energy giant is unsure whether 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.

BP has been under intense pressure from the US Government and public to contain a giant slick that threatens shipping, wildlife, beaches and one of the United States' most fertile fishing grounds.

In theory, the system should collect 85 percent of the oil rising from the sea floor but BP has never deployed the structure at a depth of 5,000 feet and the company cannot guarantee it will function correctly.

The spill is a public relations nightmare for BP and in an apparent bid to show how hard it is working to contain the slick the company has opened the building facility at Golden Meadow, southern Louisiana, for journalists.