BP PLC and the Obama administration are beginning the final countdown to plugging for good the runaway Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP crews today will take the initial steps to begin a so-called static kill of the well, which involves pumping heavy drilling muds and cement down the wellbore to staunch the flow.

The company plans to begin the first phase -- an injectivity test -- later this afternoon, Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president for exploration and production, said this morning. The test will involve pumping oil from the surface down the wellbore to determine whether oil can be forced back into the reservoir.

The static kill, which will start tomorrow if today's tests go well, will involve pumping some 2,000 barrels of heavy drilling fluids down the wellbore to force the oil back into the reservoir miles below the seafloor.

"When we get done with the static kill, we have some choices to make," Wells said.

The company wants to permanently seal the well using cement. But until the static kill is complete, officials and scientists won't know whether to inject the cement from the top or from the bottom, where a relief well is poised to intercept the wellbore.

"After we've done that, the important decision will be about what is the best way to pump ... what is the best way to actually cement the well," Wells said.

The static kill will likely be completed by Wednesday, Wells said. The top U.S. official in charge of the response operation said yesterday that the interception of the failed wellbore with the relief well would take place five to seven days after the static kill.

Wells said today he anticipated that interception to occur sometime late next week. And the bottom kill operations themselves will likely take "a number of days to a few weeks," Wells said.

EPA, Allen fire back at Markey over dispersants

BP's use of dispersants in the spill-response effort is continuing to spark controversy after Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, released documents late last week cataloguing the Coast Guard's decision to grant BP near-daily exemptions to a May 26 directive curbing surface dispersant sprays (E&E Daily, Aug. 2).

Markey said in a letter to retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen that more information is needed on BP's dispersant use. Markey says his staff has discovered discrepancies in the total dispersant volumes BP has reported.

"BP carpet-bombed the ocean with these chemicals, and the Coast Guard allowed them to do it," Markey said in a statement accompanying the letter. "It appears to me that the May 26, 2010, directive has become more of a meaningless paperwork exercise."

But U.S. EPA, the agency that issued the May 26 directive, indicated in a statement yesterday that the difference between what the agency directed and what BP and the Coast Guard achieved is slight.

And Allen echoed those comments yesterday in a briefing with reporters.

"We established a goal to reduce dispersant use by 75 percent," Allen said. "At the time the capping stack went on we reduced that to 72 percent. There are times when our leaders have to make decisions on-scene based on oil that's sighted by aircraft and we may have a window of opportunity to try and deal with it there rather than take the impact into the marshes or the beaches."

Anadarko chief tops Houston pay scales

The head of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one of the minority owners of the failed Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, has topped this year's list of the highest-paid executives in Houston.

Anadarko Chairman and CEO James Hackett received $27.5 million in cash, stock and other compensation last year, making him the highest-paid executive at a publicly traded company in Houston, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Anadarko owns 25 percent of the Macondo well, but it is embroiled in a bitter dispute with BP over paying for cleanup costs. BP has sent Anadarko an invoice for $272 million, which Anadarko has so far refused to pay, blaming BP for "recklessness" in the accident.

Dudley, Hayward head to Russia

BP's newly appointed CEO Bob Dudley and outgoing CEO Tony Hayward will meet with Russia's top energy official, Igor Sechin, this week.

The meetings are seen as key for the British oil giant that needs to maintain warm ties with Moscow as one-fourth of its total oil output comes from Russia, and its relationship with several Russian cash-rich energy giants could pave the way for deals the company needs to make in the coming months to pay for the ongoing Gulf spill cleanup effort.

Dudley is the former head of BP's 50-50 joint venture with Russian billionaires. Dudley has not been back to Russia since he was forced to leave in 2008 amid disputes with the TNK-BP partners. The dispute has since been resolved, and TNK-BP's co-owners and Sechin have welcomed Dudley's appointment.

TNK-BP said last week it was interested in buying BP's Venezuelan assets.

Calls for Mediterranean moratorium as BP prepares to drill in Libyan waters

BP's preparations to start drilling off the coast of Libya have prompted calls for a moratorium on deepwater operations in the Mediterranean.

Stefania Prestigiacomo, Italy's environment minister, is the first senior official within the European Union to suggest a Mediterranean moratorium while the 21 Mediterranean states find a "common voice," the Financial Times reported.

The European Union's energy commissioner has called for a moratorium within E.U. waters.

BP said yesterday it had a rig in place to start drilling in Libya's Gulf of Sirte, but no date has been set for drilling to start. The Gulf of Sirte is positioned about 300 miles from Italian and Maltese territory.

Environmental groups are also urging for a suspension of drilling in the Mediterranean.