Top Kill Has Not Worked Yet. Junk Shot Perhaps Tonight…

Some on BP’s team saw improvement, while others were more skeptical. While mud is pumped into the blowout preventer, some can go down into the well, while some go up and then out of a broken pipe atop the blowout preventer, where oil and gas are leaking.

“We have not stopped the flow, so the operation has not yet achieved its objective,” Suttles said.

Mud pumping restarted on Thursday. Suttles said BP also would pump in “bridging agents,” or more solid materials, to help block the leak.

BP also may inject a “junk shot” of shredded rubber, golf balls and other materials to add more weight to push back the leak, Suttles said.

Pumping may stop again to allow more evaluation of pressures, he said.

“Nothing has actually gone wrong. This is a dynamic kill,” he said.

The last step would be to pump in more mud and cement and cap the well to plug the leak until two relief wells being drilled finish the job, Suttles said.

Reuters