Crews finishing 98-ton concrete-and-metal box to be placed over 1 of the Gulf oil leaks

First oil containment box almost completed

PORT FOURCHON, La. — The company BP PLC hired to build concrete and steel containment boxes says the first one will be completed within 48 hours.

Spokesman John Curry said Monday that BP hopes to have the 98-ton box in the water by week’s end to cover the main leak at the well site. A second backup box, also topped with a metal dome, is under construction.

The boxes are being built in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, by a company called Wild Well Control.

Jason Holvey, a marine engineer working for Wild Well Control, says smaller, similar containment devices have been used in the Gulf, but in shallow waters. He says they were used after Hurricane Katrina to channel oil to the surface that had spilled from platforms.