British oil giant BP plc (BP,BP.L) said Monday that the "static kill", a long-awaited operation to permanently plug the damaged deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, might take place on Tuesday. The company said that a crucial test ahead of the operation that was earlier planned for Monday, would also now take place Tuesday as a small hydraulic leak was discovered in the control mechanism of cap that keeps the well shut.
In a statement, BP said, "During final preparations to commence with the injectivity test, a small hydraulic leak was discovered in the capping stack hydraulic control system. The injectivity test, previously announced to take place today, will be rescheduled until the leak is repaired. It is anticipated that the injectivity test and possibly the static kill will take place Tuesday."
The injectivity test is the initial phase of the static kill operation. It consists of a test to push crude down the well and into the reservoir by injecting refined oil. The static kill operation involves pumping large quantities of heavy drilling fluid down into the well.
The static kill and the completion of a relief well in August are seen as the permanent solutions for the ruptured oil well. U.S. government scientists have estimated that the well may have released almost 5 million barrels of oil since late April.
BP capped the well in mid-July, choking off the flow of oil for the first time since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig explosion on April 20. Optimism that the spill can be controlled has increased since BP capped the well. Before the cap was attached and closed, the broken well spewed 94 million to 184 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion.
Based on new pressure readings, data and analysis, the U.S. scientific teams appointed by National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen with determining the flow of oil from the leaking well have refined their estimates of the oil flow prior to the well being capped. Allen heads the federal oil spill response effort.
The scientific teams now estimate that 62,000 barrels of oil per day were leaking from the well at the beginning of the spill. That rate declined to 53,000 barrels of oil per day immediately preceding the well's closure via the capping stack.
The scientific teams also found that the daily flow rate decreased over the 87 days prior to the well's closure due to reservoir depletion. Overall, the scientists estimate that about 4.9 million barrels of oil escaped from the well into the Gulf, of which approximately 800,000 barrels of oil were contained by BP.
The oil spill claimed the scalp of BP's chief executive officer Tony Hayward, who announced his departure last week. Stung by costs associated with the cleaning operations, the oil giant reported a $17 billion second-quarter loss. The loss included a hefty charge of $32.2 billion on costs related to the massive oil spill. BP also said it plans to sell $30 billion in assets over the next 18 months to help cover liabilities tied to the disaster.
BP closed Monday's regular trading session at $39.42, up $0.95 or 2.47% on a volume of 16.96 million shares. The stock has been trading in a range of $26.75-$62.38 in the past 52 weeks.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.