The US fears oil may be seeping from the ocean floor near the stricken Gulf of Mexico oil well.
The official in charge of the clean-up, Thad Allen, said if a substance leaking from the seabed was found to be methane this might mean oil was also leaking.
He ordered BP to submit a plan to reopen the capped well if the seepage was confirmed, so that oil could be funnelled to the surface.
But BP says it would take three days to start this process.
During this time, the daily leakage of tens of thousands of barrels of oil, which had been capped last Thursday, could resume.
The well began leaking oil into the Gulf after BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on 20 April, killing 11 workers, and capsized two days later.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10679973
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