BP declares deep-sea well 'sealed'
US officials have declared that BP, the British oil company, has finally sealed the deep-sea well that gushed millions of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for several months.
"We can finally announce that the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who oversees the US government response to the disaster, said in a statement on Sunday.
Last Thursday, a relief well bored into the bottom of the Macondo well to pump in cement and seal the reservoir for good. BP pumped cement for seven hours on Friday, and finished a pressure test early on Sunday that showed the well was "effectively dead", Allen said.
BP had pumped cement into the well from the top on August 5. That attempt provided the first cement plug and the second round into the bottom through the relief well was considered the final assurance that the well was plugged for good.
Rich Robson, the offshore installation manager on the Development Driller III vessel, said that while
however the declaration will be a significant milestone, it would be difficult to celebrate too much given the tragedy of the oil spill.
