An operation aimed at lessening the amount of oil gushing from an underwater well in the Gulf of Mexico was under way Tuesday, weeks after a similar effort was abandoned, a BP official said.

"We want to minimize the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and we're well into an operation to do that," BP Managing Director Bob Dudley said.

Within hours, he said, robots will begin making a series of cuts to the "lower marine riser package" on the well. After that, a diamond-cut saw will be used to make a "clean cut," preparing the way for a custom-made cap to be fitted over the package.

Asked about his level of confidence in the capping procedure, given the fact that other operations aimed at stopping the spill have failed over the past 43 days, Dudley said the company has learned a lot from previous attempts.

An effort to cap the leak by lowering a containment dome on top of it in early May was foiled when ice-like hydrate crystals formed inside the vessel. This time, warm water will be pumped down in an effort to combat the formation of hydrates.

Although the engineering has never been attempted at a depth of 5,000 feet, Dudley said, it is "more straightforward" than that used in previous operations.

The operation represents the first of three containment steps BP plans to take, he said. After the cap is on, a second operation will create a second flow path through the blowout preventers, meaning there will be two flow paths to the surface.

"By the end of the month, we are engineering a completely separate system that will make it more storm-proof, with a free-standing riser that would allow for quick disconnects if needed," he said. "This engineering is different than the 'top kill' engineering."

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