(Aug. 20) -- National Incident Commander Thad Allen said Thursday that BP's unruly well won't be killed once and for all until September. Original estimates had planned for the bottom kill -- which will kill the well for good -- to take place this month. At several points, emergency crews were even said to be ahead of schedule on the project, but no longer.

How come? As Allen explained in a press conference Thursday, "All of this has been done over an overabundance of caution related to minimizing risk associated with the intersection of the well," adding, "We are very, very close to the end."

Below Surge Desk answers six questions about the state of the oil well kill operation.

1. How close is the relief well to being finished?
The relief well drill is three and a half feet from the Macondo well and 50 feet above the intersection point, Allen said Thursday. But the drilling has been stopped for the time being.

2. What are they waiting for?
They have decided to remove the blow-out preventer and capping stack on the well and put a new blow-out preventer in place.

3. When will they continue drilling?
If all goes according to plan, the intersection of the relief well and the Macondo well will take place after Labor Day, which is Sept. 6.

4. What are they doing to the well right now?
They are conducting yet another pressure test on the blow-out preventer. This time they have filled the blow-out preventer with seawater to match the conditions outside so they can get an idea of what will happen when they remove the preventer. They are looking for leaking gases and hydrocarbons. The test, which began Thursday morning, will take 48 hours to complete.

5. What's the next step?
Once the pressure test is complete, BP will do a "fishing experiment" during which it will attempt to remove a piece of pipe from the blow-out preventer so when it puts the new preventer on, nothing will be in the way.

6. What will happen to the old blow-out preventer?
It will be kept and studied for evidence as to why the April 20 explosion occurred in the first place.