BP has started testing a cap designed to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time in almost three months.
Senior vice-president Kent Wells told a news briefing last night that the valve on the top portion of the cap was shut, meaning the oil had stopped pouring out from there.
It was working to shut off the other two valves to completely enclose the oil.
The cap is a stop-gap measure designed to keep the oil in the well, or funnel it to ships until the relief well is done.
Earlier yesterday, BP said that a 24-hour delay in the pressure test at the wellhead had been needed to reduce risks.
Mr Wells, said scientists had wanted the delay to make sure it would maximise what could be learned while minimising risk.
The test could mark a turning point in the massive environmental disaster. Previous efforts to halt the worst offshore spill in US history have failed.
Commenting on the initial delay in the test, analyst Peter Hitchens, at Panmure Gordon in London, said: “BP don’t want to mess it up. It’s better to be safe than sorry. They have already learned that.”
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank on April 20, killing 11 workers.
A vote of confidence in BP’s future came yesterday from Foreign Secretary William Hague.
He said it had a healthy future as a stand-alone company.
Mr Hague made the comments during a visit to Beijing, while responding to speculation China may buy assets from BP.
He added: “Our position is BP has got to do what it’s doing in the Gulf of Mexico, but it’s still in a strong position as an independent company. I’ve not had any approach from China to do with BP at all.”
Shares in BP in London lost some of their recent gains yesterday, dropping more than 2% or 9.35p to 401p.
But staff at BP’s North Sea headquarters at Dyce, Aberdeen, will get a boost today when the Duke of York, the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment, pays a visit.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged to look into a request by American law-makers that the state department investigate claims BP had a hand in the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi.
According to some media reports, BP lobbied the UK government to support a prison transfer. If that was the case, it may have encouraged Libya to finalise an offshore drilling deal.
Megrahi was released last August on compassionate grounds after doctors said he was near death.