BP says Gulf oil seep may not be from its well

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil giant BP Plc said a seep detected in the Gulf of Mexico may not be related to its blown out Macondo well, which has caused the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Spokesman Robert Wine said on Monday that BP engineers were the source of information behind comments from the government's top official overseeing the spill response effort, Admiral Thad Allen, that a seep was detected "a distance from the well."

"The data is being reviewed by the government's technical team," Wine said.

Last week a cap was placed on the well, halting the flow of oil for the first time in three months.

If the data confirmed that Macondo was the source of the seep, the choke on the cap would be opened, and oil flowed to support vessels on the surface, Wine said. (Reporting by Tom Bergin; editing by Simon Jessop)