BP gives up 'top kill,' moves on to next option

A "top kill" procedure to stop the flow of oil has failed and British Petroleum will try another way. 

"After three full days of attempting top kill we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well so we now believe it's time to move on to the next of our options," chief operating officer Doug Suttles said Saturday evening during a press conference. 

After numerous attempts to overcome the flow and after significant review BP and industry engineers as well as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Department Secretary Stephen Chu and other Obama administration officials, the decision was made to move on with the next option, Suttles said. 

Rear Adm. Mary Landry said she was "very disappointed" but made assurances that a "very aggressvie response posture" is being taken to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico's waters. 

"There's no silver bullet to stop this leak," she said. 

BP engineers have tried several different ways to stem the flow of the well, which is a mile under the surface. Millions of gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico's waters since the rig blew up and sank April 20, killing 11 employees. 

The next option is called the lower-marine-riser package cap, in which an underwater robot uses a saw to cut the leaking pipe and put a cap over it. 

Suttles expects that procedure to capture most of the oil flow but he said it's not a "tight mechanical seal" that could take at least four days or longer. He called the option "complex" because humans can't assist at more than a mile under the ocean and "it has never been done before in this environment." 

"I'm confident the job will work but, obviously, I can't guarantee success at this time," said. 

BP is drilling two relief wells that could take up to two months to complete. The relief wells would allow BP to pour cement into the leaking well but Suttles said he hoped to have the leak plugged well before that. 

Cross-posted from E2-Wire.