E2 Round-up: BP leak remains capped as tests continue, Senate panel examines BP role in Lockerbie bombing prisoner’s release, and BP’s shares jump on news of well containment

The cap is not a permanent solution and the valves may be reopened to resume collection of oil at the surface.

“BP and the government could decide to allow the oil to flow again and try to collect all of it; they could allow the oil to flow and, if tests show the well can withstand the pressure from the cap, close the well during hurricanes; or they could leave the well closed permanently,” the Times piece notes.

“The last option seems unlikely, but whatever the decision, the cap is an interim measure until a relief well can plug the leak for good.”

CNN reports that “The move is being lauded as a positive step, accompanied by a strong note of caution that the cutoff is simply part of the test, as BP and government experts assess how the well is holding up.”

“BP cautioned that the oil cutoff, while welcomed, isn’t likely to go beyond the 48 hours.”

“Valves are expected to open after that to resume siphoning oil to two ships on the surface, the Q4000 and Helix Producer, as government and BP officials assess the data and decide what to do next. Two more ships are due to join them in coming weeks, bringing containment capacity to 80,000 barrels of oil a day, more than high-end estimates of how much oil had been leaking.”

Senate panel will probe BP’s role in release of the Lockerbie airline bombing prisoner

“The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a July 29 hearing into last year’s release of a Libyan convicted for the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, and related actions by BP,” Reuters reports.

“The committee said on Thursday it will ask officials of BP Plc to testify after the UK-based oil giant acknowledged that it had lobbied the British government in 2007 to agree to transfer Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to Tripoli. The company said it was concerned that his continued imprisonment in Scotland could negatively affect an offshore oil drilling deal with Libya.”

BP’s market outlook brightened after the oil stopped flowing

“BP Plc surged as much as 6.2 percent in London trading after the company stopped the flow of oil from its leaking Gulf of Mexico well for the first time since the spill started in April,” Bloomberg reports Friday.

“BP rose as far as 426.45 pence, the highest since June 8, before trading at 424 pence as of 8:07 a.m. local time. That’s 40 percent higher than the 14-year low reached last month following the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20.”