BP assessing whether to continue well 'top kill'

HOUSTON/FOURCHON BEACH, Louisiana (Reuters) - BP Plc's "top kill" has not stopped a Gulf of Mexico oil leak and the company is assessing whether to continue or move on to something else, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said on Saturday.

"I don't think the amount of oil coming out has changed," he said at a news conference at Fourchon Beach, Louisiana. "Just by watching it, we don't believe it's changed."

The live feed of the leak, available on BP's website, showed preparations on Saturday morning for BP's next step. An underwater robot gripped a saw near the bent and leaking pipe atop a failed blowout preventer, where BP aims to slice off the pipe and place a cap and seal over the opening.

That operation is known as the lower marine riser package cap and Suttles confirmed that BP had been preparing for that step "all along."

"If we have to go to it, we can do it as quickly as possible," he said.

BP has said previously the company was "planning in parallel," or getting ready for other options while working on the top kill -- the injection of heavy fluid and materials to plug the well.

While Suttles acknowledged that the amount of oil spewing from the leak has not changed, he did not go so far as to say the top kill has failed.

"We've said all along this may or may not be successful," Suttles said after noting that he will provide another update at 1600 CDT (10:00 p.m. BST).

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard in Fourchon Beach and Kristen Hays in Houston; Editing by Mary Milliken and Vicki Allen)