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NEW ORLEANS – BP was encouraged early Friday by results from an experimental cap shutting in oil from its busted Gulf of Mexico well, saying everything was holding steady 17 hours into the effort.

BP vice president Kent Wells said on a conference call that there was no evidence of a leak in the pipe under the sea floor, one of the main concerns. Wells spoke 17 hours after valves were shut to trap oil inside the cap, a test that could last up to 48 hours.

WASHINGTON – In the end, it’s only a beginning.

The far-reaching new banking and consumer protection bill awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature now shifts from the politicians to the technocrats.

The legislation gives regulators latitude and time to come up with new rules, requires scores of studies and, in some instances, depends on international agreements falling into place.

For Wall Street, the next phase represents continuing uncertainty. It also offers banks and other financial institutions yet another opportunity to influence and shape the rules that govern their businesses.

NEW ORLEANS – The oil has stopped. For now. After 85 days and up to 184 million gallons, BP finally gained control over one of America’s biggest environmental catastrophes Thursday by placing a carefully fitted cap over a runaway geyser that has been gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico since early spring.

Though a temporary fix, the accomplishment was greeted with hope, high expectations — and, in many cases along the beleaguered coastline, disbelief. From one Gulf Coast resident came this: “Hallelujah.” And from another: “I got to see it to believe it.”

NEW ORLEANS – BP engineers were back to the slow work of trying to choke the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher with an untested cap after replacing a leaky pipe Thursday, the latest delay in the uncertain fix.

Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing in Houston that the overnight leak in a pipe on the side of the towering, 75-ton capping stack was fixed by replacing the assembly, called a “choke line.”

NEW ORLEANS – BP engineers working to choke the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico found a leak on a line attached to the side of the new well cap and were trying to fix it Thursday before attempting to stop the crude.

BP said Wednesday evening it had isolated the leak and was repairing it before moving forward. It wasn’t clear how it would affect the timing of the operation, or whether oil continued to be slowly closed off into the cap.

NEW ORLEANS – BP allayed last-minute government fears of making the disaster worse and started trying to slowly choke off the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday, in the hope of finally stopping the leak.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the disaster, said the government gave the go-ahead after carefully reviewing the risks of the procedure. The plan is a test of whether a new temporary well cap can withstand the pressure and ultimately contain the oil.

NEW ORLEANS – BP’s work to cap its Gulf of Mexico gusher was in limbo Wednesday after the federal government raised concerns the operation could put damaging pressure on the busted well and make the leak worse.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the government didn’t want potentially dangerous pressure tests on a new, tighter cap that has been placed on the well to go ahead until BP answers questions about possible risks.

Gibbs said he did not consider the delay to be “some giant setback,” describing it as “a series of steps … that are being taken in order to ensure that what we’re doing is being done out of an abundance of caution to do no harm.”

NEW ORLEANS – BP says it temporarily halted drilling on a relief well meant to permanently plug its Gulf of Mexico oil leak while it prepares to test a temporary cap on the well.

Kent Wells, a senior vice president in the company, said at a Wednesday morning news briefing they were delaying drilling by up to 48 hours on the well that is supposed to reach the broken one underground and plug it with mud and cement.

Wells said it was a precaution.

NEW ORLEANS – A pivotal moment in the Gulf oil crisis hit an unexpected snag Tuesday evening when officials announced they needed more time before they could begin choking off the geyser of crude at the bottom of the sea.

BP and federal officials did not say what prompted the decision or when the testing would begin on a new, tighter-fitting cap it had just installed on the blown-out well. The oil giant had been scheduled to start slowly shutting off valves on the 75-ton cap, aiming to stop the flow of oil for the first time in three months.

NEW ORLEANS – In a potentially pivotal moment in the Gulf crisis, BP was preparing Tuesday to begin closing valves in a slow and methodical process that could finally choke off the geyser of crude at the bottom of the sea after three gloomy months and up to 180 million gallons spilled.

A new, tighter-fitting cap was lowered over the blown-out well Monday night, designed to be a temporary fix until the well is plugged underground.

The next phase was to shut the openings in the 75-ton metal stack of pipes and valves gradually, one at a time, while watching pressure gauges to see if the cap would hold or any new leaks erupted.