Officials have said that BP's efforts to slice off the riser pipe of its runaway Gulf of Mexico oil well ran into a snag Wednesday when the saw blade got stuck.

According to the reports of CNN, the British energy giant freed the cutter several hours later but there was no indication when the attempt to cut through the pipe would resume.

The network also said that changing weather patterns raised concern more oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster might be pushed toward Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

It was also reported that the diamond wire saw blade that was caught in the pipe was being used in an effort to make a clean cut through the well head so a cap can be affixed to stem the flow of oil that has been spewing into the gulf since April 20 when the oil platform exploded, killing 11 oil workers. The rig sank two days later.

The vast majority of leaking oil should be captured if the plan succeeds. Estimates of the size of the leak range from 5,000 barrels to 19,000 barrels a day. If the procedure fails, the oil flow could increase by 20 percent, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told CNN late on Tuesday.

Rust-colored oil started washing ashore on the barrier islands off Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday. (With Inputs from Agencies)