*Bad news on Top Kill

A technician involved in the massive plugging effort tells the NYT that pumping operations have been suspended. No official word as yet.

The technician working on the effort said that despite the injections at various pressure levels, engineers had been able to keep less than 10 percent of the injection fluids inside the stack of pipes above the well. He said that was barely an improvement on Wednesday's results when the operation began and was suspended in its 11th hour of operations. BP resumed the pumping effort Thursday evening for about 10 more hours. "I won't say progress was zero, but I don't know if we can round up enough mud to make it work," said the technician. "Everyone is disappointed at this time."

The suspension apparently has something to do with the operation's "junk shots," in which pieces of rubber, golf balls and other materials are poured in to clog the device that sits atop the wellhead. It was being done in conjunction with the heavy drilling liquids being pumped into the well.

NYT now reports that pumping operations have resumed. Sounds like this is going to be an up-and-down ordeal.