Oil and gas giant BP (LON:BP.) has reported some success in its frantic efforts to try and stop oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico from a sheared off riser pipe that dropped to the seabed following the explosion, and subsequent sinking, of its Deepwater Horizon rig last month.

BP has been struggling to plug the well since April 21, when it became clear that the well’s supposed fail-safe blow-out preventer had not worked properly. Over the weekend, the company inserted a riser insertion tube tool (RITT) into the end of the leaking riser in order to divert most of the leaking oil and gas up to a vessel on the surface, 5,000 feet above. Produced oil is being stored on the drillship while produced gas is being flared.

BP said that while the RIIT was now in place, it was continuing to assess ways of plugging the blow-out preventer. Plans continue to be developed for a so called “top kill” operation where heavy drilling fluids are injected into the well to stem the flow of oil and gas, followed by cement to seal the well. Options have also been developed to potentially combine this with so-called “junk shot”, the injection under pressure of a variety of materials into the blow-out preventer to seal off upward flow. Plans for deployment of these options are being progressed with the possibility of deployment in the next week or so.

The RITT is a fabricated from 4-inch diameter pipe, fashioned to allow one end to be inserted into the broken riser pipe that is the source of the main oil flow from the MC252 well. Importantly, the RITT allows the injection of methanol to stop icy gas crystals from blocking up the pipes – a problem that wrecked previous efforts to place a large dome over the leaking pipe. BP insisted that the latest effort was based on new technology and both its continued operation and its effectiveness in capturing the oil and gas remained uncertain.

Work on drilling a relief well at the site got underway on May 2, but is likely to take three months to complete. Elsewhere, over 650 vessels are involved in the response effort and intensive operations to skim oil from the surface of the water have now recovered, in total, some 151,000 barrels of oily liquid. The total length…

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