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[Tuff-Stuff]

bl<>BP Says `Top Kill' Hasn't Stopped Oil-Well Leak, Explores Other Options



By David Wethe

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc began discussing new approaches to capping a leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico after a three-day effort to stop the leak with a blast of pressurized fluids has so far been unsuccessful.

Since Wednesday, BP has been starting and stopping high- horsepower pumps that ram mixtures of mud-like drilling fluid and rubber scrap into the oil and gas that’s been gushing from the well for more than five weeks, a process known as “top kill.”

At a press conference today, Doug Suttles, the BP executive in charge of the spill response, said the top kill strategy so far has not worked.
Last Updated: May 29, 2010 14:06 EDT