'Top kill' has failed, BP admits

UPDATE: 'No change' in flow of oil, BP exec says

Oil giant BP admitted on Saturday that its fourth attempt to stop the oil leak at the Deepwater Horizon -- known as "top kill" -- has failed.

"I don't think the amount of oil coming out has changed," BP's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, told reporters. "Just by watching it, we don't believe it's changed."

According to government estimates, between 18 million and 40 million gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers.

Writing at Business Insider, finance reporter Joe Wiesenthal says BO will likely be "taken off the job" on the oil spill, because of the bad publicity the failed efforts at stopping the leak have given the Obama administration:

Having BP run the show has been a disaster for a couple of reasons. One is that Obama has to defend the company's actions, and two is that BP is HORRIBLE at PR, waiting hours to give updates that everyone is clamoring for. Watch for the military to take over, though using BP's resources and of course BP's dime.

ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS BELOW

Engineers tried Saturday to plug an oil gush spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico after US President Barack Obama visited the disaster area and vowed never to abandon those imperiled by it.

As BP pleaded for patience to allow time for its risky and complex "top kill" to work and plug the massive leak, Obama pledged "to continue to do whatever it takes to help Americans whose livelihoods have been upended by the spill."

The US president, clad in hiking boots and with his sleeves rolled up, ordered the number of workers feverishly trying to contain and clean up the spill along the southern US coastline to be tripled.

He toured an oil-slick blighted Louisiana beach, picking up tar balls to examine them, as he outlined his administration's "historic response" to the disaster which has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

His second trip to the region since an April 20 explosion tore through the Deepwater Horizon rig, 80 kilometers ( 50 miles) off shore, came as experts and residents hold their breath, hoping BP can stop the oil flowing from a fractured pipe.

Government scientists estimate some 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of crude a day have been gushing into the Gulf since the rig sank two days after the blast which killed 11 workers.

"I think the key element here is to exercise patience," said BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles, adding the operation would last another 24 to 48 hours.

The British energy giant is using robotic submarines to pump heavy drilling fluids down the wellhead, hoping to drown the leak long enough to allow engineers to then seal it with cement.

"We'll have periods where we're pumping. We'll have periods where we're monitoring results of that pumping. We'll have periods where we actually pump in this, what we call junk," Suttles said, seeking to allay concerns over why BP had stopped the pumping several times since it began on Wednesday.

The New York Times said Saturday the operation was marked by "an apparent lack of progress," pointing out that officials said they would continue with the process for another 48 hours before giving up and considering other options, including another containment dome to try to capture the oil.

The disaster has already closed stretches of coastal fishing waters, endangering livelihoods which are also dependent on tourism, and threatening a catastrophe for Louisiana marshes, home to many rare species.

"I'm here to tell you that you're not alone. You will not be abandoned. You will not be left behind," Obama promised to local residents. "We are on your side and we will see this through."

He said 20,000 people had already been deployed to contain and clean up the spill, but that he had ordered Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and US Coast Guard chief Admiral Thad Allen to "triple the manpower in places where oil has hit the shore or is within 24 hours of impact."

Allen, who has been charged with overseeing the government's response, said initial signs suggested BP's "top kill" was succeeding.

"They have been able to push the hydrocarbons down with the mud. The real challenge is to put enough into the well to keep the pressure where they can put a cement plug over the top," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Government data released Thursday would mean between 18.6 million gallons and 29.5 million gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf -- far more than the roughly 11 million gallons of crude spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

Amid the environmental catastrophe, there were also growing fears for the health of cleanup workers exposed to the oil and chemical dispersants.

Four more crewmen aboard ships helping burn off surface oil were evacuated to hospital late Friday after falling ill, a day after the US Coast Guard announced that seven workers were evacuated for medical emergencies.

Obama said 910,000 meters (three million feet) of hard boom had already been deployed in an effort to stop the oil spill reaching wetlands and beaches. But he admitted "there's a limited amount" available.

"We're going to try to get more boom manufactured, but that may take some time," he said.

The commander of a federal research ship who has spent five days out at sea on the edges of the slick said a heavy smell of oil hung over the area.

"It's a strong smell out there," said commander Shepard Smith of the Thomas Jefferson, a 204-foot survey vessel. "It smells like freshly creosoted railroad ties."

BP said Friday the oil spill had cost the firm about 930 million dollars, while the company's market value has also dropped by billions.

-- With AFP

This video is from President Obama's tour of Louisiana beaches affected by BP's oil spill, shot May 28, 2010, as snipped by Mediaite.