US Government: BP Must Find Best Method, Go Forward With Gulf-Leak Relief Well

BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) must go forward with a final operation using a relief well to permanently seal the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, but engineers need more time to decide the best way to proceed, the top federal official overseeing oil-spill recovery said Friday.

"Everybody is in agreement we need to proceed with the relief well; the questions is how to do that," said Ret. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, in a teleconference. He said he held meetings Friday with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and incoming BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley to discuss the best course of action.

Thursday, BP conducted a pressure test on the Macondo well a mile deep in the Gulf to analyze whether to proceed with a "bottom kill" operation, whereby drilling mud and cement will be pumped through a relief well into the ruptured well from below. The tests confirmed the well is practically sealed after the cement was pumped down through the well head last week, Allen said, though the strength of the seal was unclear. Scientists are trying to determine how best to resume relief-well drilling without damaging the cement, he added.

"We need to understand the implications of pumping mud and cement...to kill from the bottom, and the implications of potential damage," Allen said.

BP and the government are considering several options to reduce the risks of the bottom-kill operation and to help preserve important pieces of evidence, Allen said.

Several investigations are underway into the late April explosion and sinking of Transocean Ltd.'s (RIG) Deepwater Horizon rig, which unleashed the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. No oil has escaped from the broken well since a cap was placed on it in mid-July.

Allen was unable to specify when preparations for the bottom kill would resume. BP had expected to intersect the ruptured well sometime early next week with the nearly 18,000-foot-deep relief well. The relief well has long been considered the final fix to the leak, even after BP effectively sealed the well with cement last week.

-By Isabel Ordonez, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9207; isabel.ordonez@dowjones.com

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