British Petroleum had to scuttle yesterday’s test of the Static kill injectivity test until Tuesday, August 3rd when experts found small leakage from the damaged Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. The test is crucial for verify if the static kill procedure is likely to work. The injectivity test includes drilling and flooding of the ruptured well with thousands of barrels of mud to determine if oil can be pushed back into the reservoir from the top of the well.

If the test goes well on Tuesday, the BP plans to continue with the Static Kill when it will pump heavy drilling fluid into Macondo at low pressure through a manifold on the seabed and into the choke line of the failed Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer located in 5,000 feet of water. The drilling and pushing of much into the well would take 33 to 61 hours.

BP has yet to determine if it will pump cement into Macondo by going through the top of the well or the bottom of the well which will permanently seal it. If cement is pumped into the top of the well during the static kill, then the relief well will still be needed to conform that the flow of oil and gas has been halted. BP expects the relief well to intercept the Macondo well sometime during August 11 – 15 unless tropical weather or technical difficulties cause delays.