WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration's point man on the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said on Sunday he expected the company to offer a plan later in the day to capture more of the gushing crude.

Speaking on CBS's "Face The Nation," Allen said: "We were concerned because if you look at the new flow rate numbers the amount of oil that's going to be potentially out there at risk, we wanted them to give us a faster plan with greater redundancy and greater reliability to move forward.

"We hope to get an answer on that later on today, in fact we will get an answer."

Allen also said government scientists would be placing pressure-reading sensors on the seabed on Sunday to more accurately measure the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

"We think we need some independent pressure readings to validate the estimates that have been made by the scientists," he said.

The latest estimate of the partly contained leak is as high as 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day. Allen said the true figure was probably a little less, perhaps around 35,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day.

He said he expected BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward to attend a White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday.

"I would expect Tony Hayward to be there," Allen said.

(Reporting by Alan Elsner; Editing by Eric Walsh)