The snag: This form of well-plugging has never been attempted on such a grand scale before. It has been utilized on above-ground wells, but it has never been used nearly 5,000 feet below the water's surface.
As published in the International Business Times, Lars Herbst, a regional official with the U.S. Minerals Management Service, said
The procedure was a "critical and very complex operation" where his staff had been providing technical assistance for some time.
In response to a reporter's question asking if there was a possibility that such a procedure could make things worse, BP Chief Operating Officer Dough Suttles said that the top kill procedure had not been previously attempted because diagnostic information needed to be obtained about the condition of the blowout preventer. Other tests were being finalized.
"It takes considerable planning to actually pull off an operation of this scale. Most of the big equipment has actually been mobilized and is either on-scene or en route," he said on Thursday.
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This may be BP's "last best chance" to seal up the well. If the "top kill" process fails, other procedures can be done, but they are viewed as less promising.
BP's various attempts to stop the flow of oil have met with failure and/or criticism, from a containment dome being thwarted by crystalization, to frames slipping on siphon tubes, to BP's continued use of toxic oil dispersants despite the EPA's warnings.
