NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc may try early next week to plug an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico by stuffing it with drilling mud, as President Barack Obama named two men on to lead a commission investigating the spill.

Three drilling rigs and 16 remote-operated vehicles are being positioned for the attempt, which could come as soon as May 25, Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said on Friday at a press conference in Louisiana.
In his weekly address, Obama named Democrat Bob Graham, a former U.S. senator and Florida governor, and Republican William Reilly, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, to lead a presidential commission to investigate the spill and find ways to “prevent a similar disaster from ever happening again.”
BP continues to capture a portion of the oil as it prepares its attempt to stop flow from the well about 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) underwater. The leak began after an April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which London-based BP leased from Transocean Ltd.
The “top kill” method to halt the leak requires mud twice the density of water be pumped into the well using a Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. rig, Suttles said. The mud should stop the flow so the well can be sealed with cement, he said.