BP exec: Unsure if new cap on well will go ahead after feds question risk of worse leak

BP: Unsure well will be capped after feds object

HOUSTON — A top BP executive says there’s no guarantee a plan to temporarily cap its gushing oil well will go ahead after the federal government questioned whether it will make the leak worse.

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday that BP is trying to resolve the government’s concerns.

Suttles said he did not know if BP will get approval to go ahead with closing valves that have been left open since the capping stack was installed atop the well Monday.

Suttles said the government wants to verify that the casing, or the piping in the well, is intact and that the oil would stay contained if BP shuts the well in.

Suttles said the next step would depend on the outcome of a meeting of BP and government officials early Wednesday afternoon.