BP extends Mexico oil well test

US: BP Plc extended for another 24 hours a critical test of its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well that so far has shut off the huge oil leak, the top US official overseeing the spill response said on Saturday.

The British energy giant, which cut off the flow of oil from the lengthy deep-sea well Thursday when it began the test to gauge its structural integrity, expressed growing confidence that the well was sealed.

Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice president of exploration and production, said there was no evidence of any leaks from the well. “We’re feeling more comfortable that we have integrity” in the well, Wells added, in what would be an important step toward permanently plugging it. When BP choked off the flow of oil Thursday using a new, tight-fitting containment cap installed atop the well a mile (1.6 km) under the ocean surface, it marked the first time the gusher had stopped since the April 20 offshore rig explosion that killed 11 workers and triggered the disaster.

“As we continue to see success in the temporary halt of oil from the leak, the US government and BP have agreed to allow the well integrity test to continue another 24 hours,” retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the US government’s point man on the spill, said in a statement.

Houston, Sunday, Reuters