BP readies killer punch for world’s worst oil spill

BP fine-tuned its equipment on Tuesday to deliver the first of two planned killer punches to permanently plug its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well that caused the world's worst accidental oil spill.
The last-minute tests sought to iron out technical glitches before a "static kill" operation expected later on Tuesday, the next step to definitively subdue the unstable seabed well that was provisionally capped in mid-July.
The full magnitude of the Gulf of Mexico spill, triggered in April by a deadly rig explosion at the deepwater well, became apparent on Monday as government scientists released revised figures showing almost 5 mln barrels of oil leaked before the well was temporarily capped on July 15.
This made it the world's largest accidental release of oil, surpassing the 1979 Ixtoc well blowout in Mexico's Bay of Campeche that gushed almost 3 mln barrels.
The static kill is the first step of a two-pronged strategy that will aim to finally seal the Macondo deposit later in August with more mud and cement injected through relief wells that will deliver a definitive "bottom kill."
The Macondo spill, already the worst in U.S. history, has unleashed an environmental and economic catastrophe on the U.S. Gulf Coast, disrupting the livelihoods of fishermen and tourism operators and triggering a barrage of damages lawsuits against BP. The company has said it will pay all legitimate claims and clean up fouled beaches and marshes.
The new leak estimates spelled further bad news for BP, which also faces an investigation by U.S. securities regulators into whether its employees profited illegally from the Gulf of Mexico spill. The revised flow numbers suggest the company had underestimated costs by at least $1 bln.
BP, which took a $32.2 bln charge related to the spill in its results last week, has said it will sell $25 bln to $30 bln of assets to pay for the spill. Kuwait's oil minister said his state-owned Kuwait Petroleum International may be interested in buying some of the assets.
BP said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell its Colombian oil unit to a consortium of Canada's Talisman Energy and Ecopetrol, Colombia's national oil company, for $1.9 bln.
BP shares initially fell around 1% in early trading on Tuesday, but recovered, and were trading around .60% up later in the day.
BP's 10% partner in the well, Japan's Mitsui, has yet to decide if it will shoulder any costs, helping the trading house to report a 79% jump in profits to 102.5 bln yen ($1.18 bln).
BP's other partner in the well, Anadarko Petroleum, which owns a 25% share, is due to report its second quarter results later on Tuesday.