White House says it could contain 90 percent of spilling oil

The Obama administration's plan to contain oil leaking from a deepwater pipeline could be sucking up as much as 90 percent of the spewing oil by the end of June.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that the strategy BP is pursuing — at the behest of the federal government — will have a high efficiency rate in containing the oil spill by the time the end of this month rolls around.

"I think the containment strategy that the Coast Guard and the federal government pushed BP to accelerate will capture most of the oil that is leaking from the Gulf right now," Gibbs said during an appearance on "Good Morning America" on ABC this morning.

Gibbs said he "absolutely" agreed with reported assessments that the strategy could mean an effective containment rate of 90 percent of the leaking oil.

The ongoing strategy has involved sending a series of ships to the area surrounding the leaking oil pipeline, onto which a cap to help manage the flow of oil had been fitted in recent weeks. These containment ships are able to siphon leaking oil up to the surface and onboard their vessels, instead of allowing the oil to flow into the Gulf of Mexico.

Gibbs confirmed that these ships could be capturing as many as 50,000 barrels a day that would otherwise be spilling into the Gulf, leading to optimism over the efficiency rate.

Still, officials have long maintained that a permanent solution won't be available until BP finishes drilling two relief wells nearby to relieve the pressure on the well from which oil is currently leaking. Those relief wells are expected to be completed sometime in August.