(CNN) -- BP reported problems controlling the undersea well at the heart of the largest oil spill in U.S. history and won a delay in testing a critical piece of equipment in March, according to documents released Sunday. 

"We are in the midst of a well control situation on MC 252 #001 and have stuck pipe. We are bringing out equipment to begin operations to sever the drillpipe, plugback the well and bypass," Scherie Douglas, a BP regulatory advisor, told the district engineer for the U.S. Interior Department's Minerals Management Service in a March 10 e-mail. 

In a follow-up e-mail to the district engineer, Frank Patton, Douglas reported the company wanted to get a plug set in the well before testing the blowout preventer, the massive device used to shut down the well in case of an emergency. 

"With the give and take of the well and hole behavior we would feel much more comfortable getting at least one of the two plugs set in order to fully secure the well prior to testing BOPs," she wrote. 

When Patton told BP he could not delay a test any longer than it took to bring the well under control, the company won a postponement from David Trocquet, the MMS district manager in New Orleans, Louisiana, the documents show. Trocquet ordered BP to make sure its cement plug was set up and to verify its placement, according to his reply. The messages do not indicate how long the test was postponed. 

The exchange was among the documents released Sunday by leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is looking into the disaster that killed 11 workers aboard the drilling platform Deepwater Horizon and uncapped a gusher that is now fouling the northern Gulf of Mexico. BP has been unable to activate the well's blowout preventer since the explosion, resulting in up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) spewing into the Gulf every day.  QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What is Frank Patton's position?
2. What does Frank Patton do?
3. How is Frank Patton employed?
Q2:
1. Who sent Frank Patton an email?
2. Who did Frank Patton get an email from?
3. Who sent an electronic meesage to Frank Patton?
Q3:
1. What did Douglas' email say to Frank Patton?
2. What was the content of the email to Frank Patton?
3. What did the email that Frank Patton got say in it?
Q4:
1. What is causing BP problems?
2. What is the source of BP's troubles?
3. What is BP having issues with?
Q5:
1. What is the job of a blowout preventer?
2. What do blowout preventers do?
3. What purpose does a blowout preventer serve. 
Q6:
1. Who granted extra time to BP?
2. Who did BP get extra time for?
3. Who gave a postponement to BP?
Q7:
1. What's being looked at by the House Energy and Commerce Committee?
2. What is the House Energy and Commerce Committee examining?
3. What is being examined by the House Energy and Commerce Committee?
Q8:
1. Did the disaster kill anyone?
2. Were anyone's lives lost in the disaster?
3. Was anybody killed in the BP disaster?
Q9:
1. How many lives were lost in the disaster?
2. How many people did the disaster kill?
3. What was the number of deaths caused by the disaster?
Q10:
1. What was the amount of oil spilled?
2. How much oil got spilled in the disaster?
3. How much oil spewed into the Gulf?
Q11:
1. What is the site of the oil disaster?
2. Where is the oil disaster taking place?
3. Where is oil spilling into?
Q12:
1. What is preventing the oil spill from being stopped?
2. Why hasn't anyone put a stop to the oil disaster?
3. Why does the oil spill continue on unabated?
