BP now looks to RITT to stop leak

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles today said that it is now trying to use a riser insertion tube tool (RITT) to capture oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak. The effort to use a smaller dome, the "top hat," to capture the leak will not be tried until the RITT approach has been tried. The "top hat" is now parked on the sea floor ready to be deployed if necessary. If neither of these methods work, the next alternative appears to be a "top kill," or "junk shot" to clog up the failed blow out preventer.

The RITT attempt will see ROV's push a tube into the riser. A rubber sealing arrangement will keep seawater from entering the system and reacting with gas in the oil and gas plume to create methane hydrate crystals. A feed line will dispense methanol into the tube in a further effort to prevent the formation of crystals.