The US government authorized BP to keep the cap on the damaged wellhead for another 24 hours to see whether the system can withstand the pressure from the oil bubbling up from the reservoir deep below the sea.

"At this point we don't have any anomalies or evidence that would say we do not have integrity," BP senior vice president Kent Wells said, as the British energy giant kept up its close monitoring for a sixth day.

No oil has flown into the Gulf since the 30-foot (10-meter) cap was installed on Thursday, although there has been some seepage from the seabed some three miles (1.9 kilometers) from the damaged well.

US officials said it is believed the seepage comes from another nearby oil well and is not a sign that the damaged wellbore is buckling under the strain.

Some hydrocarbons have also been detected leaking from the new well cap, but the US pointman on the disaster, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, dismissed them as "very small drips" adding they were not "consequential."

Wells said BP expected to put the final casing on the relief well -- still seen as the permanent solution to capping the runaway well -- on Wednesday and Thursday.

Final drilling should see it intercept the damaged well around July 29, at which point BP could start to pump heavy fluids in to choke off the flow of crude before sealing it with cement.

That operation could take days or even weeks and with the ongoing Atlantic hurricane season an ever-present threat, BP is hoping it can speed up the process by injecting mud and cement into the top through the new cap as well.

US government experts have not yet given BP permission to proceed with that process known as a static kill, amid a flurry of discussions and analysis.

"The static kill is a good option," Wells insisted, saying unlike an earlier version attempted in May, this time with the oil flow now capped off, BP's engineers would be able to attempt the maneuver at a very low pressure.

"We have the people and the resources to pull that off without getting in the way of the relief well.

"After we get some mud in the hole, the pressure in the well actually starts going down so you start very quickly seeing the benefits of doing this as opposed to risks," Wells said.

But US officials remain wary.

"What you wouldn't want to do is somehow damage the chances of the relief well being finished out," Allen insisted, describing the relief well as an "insurance policy" in the event the static kill does not work.

earlier related report
BP floats new 'static kill' operation to end Gulf disaster
New Orleans, Louisiana (AFP) July 19, 2010 - BP floated a new option Monday to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and end the economic and environmental disaster sooner than expected.

The "static kill" operation would involve pumping heavy drilling fluids known as mud through the blowout preventer valve system that sits on top of the well and then injecting cement to seal it.

Similar to the "top kill" operation that failed in May, BP believes it will now work because the oil and gas in the runaway well is sealed already by its containment cap so the mud won't need to be forced down so hard.

BP senior vice president Kent Wells said officials could decide to implement the operation within the "next couple days," long before the first relief well -- still seen as the ultimate fix -- is completed at the end of the month.

Back in May, the "top kill" saw engineers spend days pumping heavy drilling fluid into the leaking well, but they failed to smother the gushing crude.

Former Coast Guard chief, Admiral Thad Allen, who heads the government's response to the spill, confirmed there was "some discussion that there might be some way to do a static pumping of mud into the top that would suppress the hydrocarbons."

But Allen stressed the plan was still in its infancy and said he was waiting further analysis from BP before making a final decision.

He admitted it could have better chances of success than the "top kill" because the well, which has been capped since Thursday, was now in a closed system with back pressure.

Both BP and Allen treaded cautiously after a string of containment failures.

"We're trading off a lot of different options. We've discussed about three or four different things that could happen, the relief well being number one," said Allen.

"We're still very much in the design and planning phase," Wells told reporters. "We've got some real experienced teams working on this over the next couple of days."

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