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UPDATE: Diamond saw is stuck...

UPDATE: ROV live video shows them removing the diamond saw from the LMRP. Not good...

UPDATE: ROV live video shows something new going on with the diamond saw, like maybe getting ready to reposition it on the riser...

UPDATE: BP has abandoned the diamond saw clean cut, and will instead try to cut the riser with the giant shear. This seems like risky business, in terms of further deforming the riser.

ORIGINAL POST CONTINUES...

BP has abandoned efforts to "kill" or cap the well from above and is focusing on relief wells as the long term solution and a new "containment cap" system to capture the flow in the interim.

A plan to install a second blow out preventer on top of the failed BOP is "off the table" and the resources staged for that effort have been returned to drilling the second, backup relief well which is once again underway.

Experts speculate that BP obtained new data during the failed "top kill" effort suggesting that the pressures inside the well could cause a complete failure of the crippled BOP or the well casing itself if the flow were cut off, leading to a more catastrophic and uncontrollable spill.

Meanwhile, a new containment effort is underway to install a "cap" atop the failed blow out preventer to capture the flow and pipe it to storage vessels on the surface. This complicated operation, which could take two or three more days to complete, involves shearing away the bent and broken riser to relive stress on the BOP riser connection, then making a finer cut using a diamond "chainsaw." Looking at the photos, the riser is severely deformed and they have little remaining round pipe around which to seal the capture device.

The "top cap" is smaller than the previous "dome" device and has lines to pump in hot water and methanol to keep methane from freezing and clogging the works, which is what caused the "dome" device to fail. If it works, BP says they will be able to capture "most of the oil and gas flow." If that doesn't work, a second "top hat" device has been staged that will not seal as tightly and will allow more of the oil to leak into the ocean, but will enable capture of at least some of the flow.

Once the riser is cut off from the BOP, it is estimated that the flow will increase by as much as 20% until a capture device is secured which could take a few days to complete. Another concern is the approaching hurricane season. If a storm approaches, the drillship will have to untether from the riser and move off the site. It is not clear what happens then, but it's my impression that the oil will simply flow into the sea.

A related effort is underway to use lines attached to the failed BOP manifolds for the "top kill" attempt to capture even more of the flow. BP says this could be in place by mid-June. They are also planning to install a free-standing riser that extends up to approx. 300 feet below sea level. A flexible hose will then be attached from it to a containment vessel. According to BP, this is a long-term option designed to more easily disconnect and reconnect the riser during a hurricane. BP expects the free-standing riser to be in place by late June or early July.

OTHER NEWS:

• Criminal probe: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder visited the Gulf to coordinate the administration's legal response. DOJ officials met with Attorneys General and U.S. Attorneys for the affected states and districts. AG Holder: the government will "ensure that anyone found responsible for this spill is held accountable. That means enforcing the appropriate civil - and if warranted, criminal - authorities to the full extent of the law."

• Florida beaches: The NOLA Times Picayune reports that oil has been spotted about nine miles off Pensacola beach, and that predicted winds could blow the slick into Florida panhandle beaches.

• Commission: President Obama met with the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, whose job is to "thoroughly examine the spill and its causes so that we never face such a catastrophe again" according to the President.

RELATED:

• June 1 National Incident Commander press briefing
• June 1 Joint Information Center update
• June 1 BP update
• BP video of diamond saw fitting
• BP Enhancements to LMRP Containment Strategy
• BP 5/31 technical briefing video
• Oil spill nears Florida beaches
• More Gulf fishing areas closed because of creeping oil spill