Barack Obama warns that BP oil disaster is not over

Barack Obama has warned that the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is not over.

Although oil has stopped leaking into the ocean, the US President has urged Americans not to "get too far ahead of ourselves".

BP announced on Thursday evening that it had successfully capped the Deepwater Horizon oil well for the first time since April.

Underwater video footage showing no oil gushing from the well has led to widespread relief across America.

Speaking outside the White House, Mr Obama said that although the worst of the crisis was probably now in the past it would be several more weeks before it was finally over. Tests will continue for the next 24 hours to establish whether the cap will hold.

The President said that the tests would establish whether the cap will stop oil leaking or whether it will be used to funnel oil to ships on the sea's surface.

"The new cap is good news," he said. "Either way we will be able to use it." However, the crisis will not be finally over until next month at the earliest when a new relief well will be drilled to drain the oil reservoir beneath the ocean floor. Mr Obama said this work for a "permanent solution" was ahead of schedule.

The US President said: "We have still got a big job to do. There is still a lot of oil out there Still an enormous clean-up job to do... [To] make sure people are compensated." Mr Obama is facing criticism after he announced that he will take a short holiday in Maine, on the north-east Atlantic coast of America, this weekend.

His wife, Michelle, travelled to the Gulf of Mexico this week and urged Americans to take their holidays in the region.

The President said that he would visit the area in the next few weeks.