BP said its cap system at an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico captured 7,541 barrels of oil in 12 hours, which could bring the daylong total to more than 15,000 – the company’s highest capture rate yet.

BP said it would begin providing oil capture updates every 12 hours rather than 24, as the company had done. If the 7,541-barrel rate continues, the total would reach 15,082 barrels – higher than the previous 24-hour total of 11,100 barrels.

The company said it aims to raise the amount to 20,000 barrels. If the latest capture rate holds, BP could capture about 79 per cent of the high end of an estimate by US scientists that the leak on the seabed is spewing 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day. It also would be more than 60 per cent of the highest government estimate of 25,000 barrels a day.

BP said it expects to increase collection “over the next few days.”

Forty-nine days into the disaster, US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told a news conference in Washington the cap effort was “going fairly well” but the ramp-up will establish how much oil the cap can contain and how much will keep leaking.

“I don’t think we ever ought to be comfortable with the containment system,” Allen said. “I think we need to be ruthless.”