VENICE, LOUISIANA (BNO NEWS) — British Petroleum (BP) on Friday afternoon announced that the top kill operation in the Gulf of Mexico is going according to the plan and that the company will stay with the procedure as officials think it can be sucessful.

During a press briefing, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles also stated that is very difficult to say if the procedure is working. He added that the top kill procedure will go another 24-48 hours.

The cost of the response to date amounts to about $930 million, including the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs, the company said earlier.

“It is too early to quantify other potential costs and liabilities associated with the incident,” the company said in a statement

According to BP, heavy drilling fluids were pumped under pressure starting on Wednesday at 14:00 p.m. ET.

If the well were successfully ‘killed’, it is expected that cementing operations would then follow. The top kill procedure has never before been attempted at these depths and its ultimate success is uncertain.

The April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig – off of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico – killed 11 people and injured 17 others. The platform later sank, causing one of the worst environmental disasters in modern history.

The drilling rig continued to spill thousands of barrels a day into the ocean until Wednesday.

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