BP has collected 6,000 barrels of oil in the first 24 hours of pumping it from a leaking well up to a drill ship, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Saturday at a press conference. The 6,000 barrels is equivalent to about 252,000 gallons, CNN reports.

Allen said the goal is to gradually increase the amount being captured by the cap into a ship on the sea's surface. The aim is to push production to 15,000 barrels a day, the New York Times reports.

"We got a lot of people out doing oil cleanup on the beach, " Allen said. "We're trying to find unemployed people to train to assist in the cleanup effort."

Over the weekend, BP said it planned to shut four vents on top of a containment cap in an effort to reduce the crude oil still spewing into the gulf, the story says.

Obama pledged to fight alongside the people in the Gulf Coast during his Saturday radio and Internet address.

"We will fight alongside them, until the awful damage that has been done is reversed, people are back on their feet, and the great natural bounty of the Gulf Coast is restored," Obama said, during his third visit to the Gulf since April 20.

Obama added that the government would make sure BP paid all the money owed to the people along the Gulf.

BP CEO Tony Hayward said Saturday on a company Twitter account that the energy giant would pay all legitimate claims, the Associated Press reports. BP estimates it would spend about $84 million this month.

The oil has already spread to coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. A moving slick arrived with the tide in the Florida Panhandle's beaches Friday as BP continued its cap method, according to the AP.

Six weeks after the rig explosion that killed 11 workers; the well has leaked between 22 million gallons and 47 million gallons of oil, according to government estimates, AP reports.

(Posted by Jessica Durando)