Disappointment over the failure

BP Plc said on Saturday its complex "top kill" maneuver to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day.
It may be another two months before the London-based energy giant can definitively turn off the gusher -- a delay that could undermine U.S. President Barack Obama as he faces growing criticism for a perceived slow response to the disaster.
"We will continue to pursue any and all responsible means of stopping this leak until the completion of the two relief wells currently being drilled," Obama said in a statement after the news, noting that the wells will take months to complete.
The beleaguered BP said its next option is a "lower marine riser package" that will not plug the well ruptured in a rig blast, but rather capture most of the oil on the sea floor and channel it to the surface for collection.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward called the containment cap "the best way to minimize the flow of oil into the Gulf" and said it would take around four days to put it in place.
But even Obama sought to lower expectations for this option, which he said is difficult and "has never been attempted before at this depth."
BP and Hayward's credibility are at new lows, after the chief executive had given the top kill a 60 to 70 percent chance of success although it had never been done at the depth of the well, a mile beneath the sea.
"I am disappointed this operation did not work," Hayward said in a statement. "The team executed the operation perfectly and the technology worked without a single hitch."
The news was a blow to Gulf coast residents, whose communities are still recovering from the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and now have to contend with oil invading fragile marshlands and waters vital to wildlife and a lucrative commercial fishing industry.
Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser was about to address a crowd when he got news of the top kill failure. "I didn't have the heart to tell them it didn't work," he told CNN.
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and unleashing an underwater torrent of oil that the government estimated at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (504,000 to 798,000 gallons/1.9 million to 3 million liters) a day.
This week, the government showed that the Gulf disaster has surpassed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaskan waters.