The thing that puzzles me... wouldn’t BP not want to cap it and go with the LMRP option?
If they close this well off they can forget about the government ever letting them re-drill it. And this is a huge oil field.
Part of me believes they want to stop this well at all costs but another is cynical enough to believe they’d just try and slow it down till they could control it.
You forget the relief well they’re drilling right now.
And even if the successfully capped this thing, I’d think they’d want the relief well to continue pumping oil so as to reduce pressure on the cap and surrounding area.