BP begins attempt to cut off well

August 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO

Introducing two more pieces of oil-industry lingo — “static kill” and “bullheading” — to the American public, BP began forcing mud down the throat of its blown-out well Tuesday in hopes of permanently sealing the biggest offshore leak in U.S. history.

The effort could continue through Thursday, and engineers won’t know for more than a week if it choked the well once and for all.

“This is a really positive step forward,” said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man on the crisis. “It’s going to be good news in a time where that hasn’t been very much good news, but it shouldn’t be a cause for premature celebration.”

A 75-ton cap placed on the well in July has been keeping the oil bottled up inside over the past three weeks, but that is considered only a temporary measure. BP and the Coast Guard want to plug up the hole with a column of heavy drilling mud and cement to seal it off more securely.

The static kill — also known as bullheading — involves slowly pumping mud down lines running from a ship to the top of the ruptured well a mile below. BP said that may be enough by itself to seal the well.

But Allen made it clear that to be safe, the gusher will have to be plugged up from two directions. He said the 18,000-foot relief well that BP has been drilling over the past three months will be used later this month to execute a “bottom kill,” in which mud and cement will be injected into the bedrock 21/2 miles below the sea floor.