Tag Archives: entomb-the-well

Admiral Thad Allen, head of the government's effort to help staunch the oil leak that resulted after an offshore rig collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico, told reporters Thursday morning that BP's latest effort to plug the leak has succeeded, according to the Chicago Tribune (and Los Angeles Times). The so-called “top kill” effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers in Houston, has pumped enough drilling fluid to block all oil and gas from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well is very low, but persistent, he said. Once engineers have reduced the well pressure to zero, they will begin to pump cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help that effort, he said, engineers are also pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well. Allen said one ship that was pumping fluid into the well has run out of the fluid, or “mud,” and that a second ship is on the way. He said he was encouraged by the progress. “We'll get this under control,” he said. “They've stopped the hydrocarbons from coming up,” National Incident Commander Thad Allen was quoted elsewhere as saying. “They've been able to stabilize the well head, they are pumping mud down it.” Allen repeated his assertion on NPR Thursday morning, but officials close to the spill wouldn't confirm or deny Allen's comments to Reuters. http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0527/breaking-top-kill-stops-oil-leak-flow-gulf-mexi… BP oil spill: 'top kill' live coverage http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/may/27/bp-oil-spill-top-kill Live from the Ocean Floor: New Oil Leak Widget Features 'Spillcam' http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/newshour-oil-widget-2-including-spil… added by: zichi