BP Plc said on Monday it had incurred $350 million in costs so far from the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as fears mounted of a prolonged and growing environmental and economic disaster. BP was considering its next move to contain the spill after its most promising short-term remedy struck a snag over the weekend. Its shares fell about 1 percent in early trade in London against a 2.5 percent rise in the European oil sector index. BP’s value has been savaged by investors since the crisis erupted last month. The uncontrolled spill, which could become the worst in U.S. history, is expected to drift farther west, away from Florida’s popular beaches but into the important shipping channels and rich seafood areas off the central Louisiana coast, west of the Mississippi Delta.

BP Plc engineers will search for a solution on Sunday after suffering a setback in an attempt to contain oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico with a huge metal dome, dashing hopes for a quick, temporary solution to a growing environmental disaster. The company was forced to move the four-story containment dome off to the side on the sea floor after a buildup of crystallized gas forced it to suspend the effort. Covering the leak with the structure was seen as the best short-term way to stem the flow from a ruptured oil well. BP expects to take up to two days plotting its next move, Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.

BP Plc engineers using undersea robots had a massive metal chamber hovering just above a gushing, ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday in a mission seen as the best chance yet to contain what could be the most damaging U.S. oil spill. The 98-ton structure has been lowered to the seabed almost 1 mile below the surface. The mission requires pinpoint accuracy in the dark and under high water pressure. The container was suspended just over the leak while crews using remotely operated vehicles prepared the seabed, said the Unified Command Center, which is coordinating spill-fighting efforts. “It will hover there until they are ready. They hope to lower to sea floor today, but they need to finish prepping the surface,” the center said in an update late on Friday.