BP's blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has been permanently sealed, a U.S. government official said, five months after an explosion destroyed a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Sunday that the well "is effectively dead."
Crews began pumping in cement on Friday to plug the well, about four kilometres below the sea floor.
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Gulf Oil Disaster
Boaters make their way along the edge of the oil slick about a quarter of a mile from the eastern shore of Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands, part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge not long afer the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
MCT
Los Angeles Times
The Day in Photos
Oil boom barriers that are expected to stop the spread of oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster, lies washed up on the beach after heavy swells and winds hit the coast of Louisiana on April 30, 2010. A giant oil slick threatened economic and environmental devastation as it closed in on Louisiana's vulnerable coast, prompting the US government to declare a national disaster. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and called for urgent help to prevent fragile wetlands and vital fishing communities along the coast from pollution on a massive scale. The wind started to strengthen and blow the 600-square-mile (1,550-square-kilometer) slick directly onto the coast, where a rich variety of wildlife were at risk in the maze of marshes that amounts to 40 percent of the US wetlands.
The Day in Photos
Dr. Erica Miller, left, and Danene Birtell with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research work to help a Northern Gannet bird, normally white when full grown, which is covered in oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, at a facility in Fort Jackson, La., Friday, April 30, 2010.
The Day in Photos
Members of the media photograph and film a car that crashed close to location of the launch of an election poster campaign, by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in Birmingham, central England on April 30, 2010. Brown and other senior members of his cabinet were in Birmingham for the launch of their party's final election campaign poster, prior to the May 6 general election.
The Day in Photos
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy smile while visiting the 2010 World Expo, in Shanghai, China, Friday, April 30 2010.
The Day in Photos
Black smoke billows across the Toronto skyline after a fire erupted at the top of a downtown condo building Thursday, April 29, 2010.
The Day in Photos
Fisheries biologist Lyndsey Howell, right, and Shelley Harkness dig a grave in the sand for a dead Kemp's ridley turtle, foreground, Monday, April 26, 2010 in Bolivar Peninsula, Texas. The orange spray paint was put on the shell to identify the turtle. The number of strandings on these shores is double what scientists and volunteers normally see as the turtles begin nesting in April, says Howell, who patrols the beaches as part of her job with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Day in Photos
Oil booms that were placed in preparation of the looming oil spill from last week's collapse and spill of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig are seen strewn along the shoreline from choppy seas in Port Eads, Thursday, April 29, 2010.
The Day in Photos
This April 28, 2010 image made from video released by the Deepwater Horizon Response Unified Command, shows an in situ burn in the Gulf of Mexico, in response to the oil spill after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon.
The Day in Photos
Atletico Madrid's Diego Forlan celebrates after scoring against Liverpool during their Europa League semifinal second leg soccer match at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, England, Thursday April 29, 2010.
The Day in Photos
Residents of Ottawa's Fallingbrook neighbourhood were unsettled to discover a series of break-ins involving women's undergarments have now been linked to Col. Russell Williams, left, the former air force base commander accused of killing two women. Courtney Cochrane, 29, right, says it's scary that the same person charged in a break-in at her parents house is also charged with two counts of murder.
The Day in Photos
The cement had hardened by Saturday, and a pressure test conducted has confirmed that the plug should hold.
The gusher was contained in mid-July after a temporary cap was successfully fitted atop the well. Mud and cement were later pushed down through the top of the well, allowing the cap to be removed.
But the well could not be declared dead until a relief well was drilled so that the ruptured well could be sealed from the bottom, ensuring it never causes a problem again. The relief well intersected the blown-out well Thursday, and crews started pumping in the cement the next day.
An April 20 blast killed 11 workers and over the ensuing three months allowed an estimated 780 million litres of oil to spew into the Gulf.
The disaster caused an environmental and economic nightmare for people who live, work and play along the Gulf shoreline from Florida to Texas. It also spurred civil and criminal investigations.
With files from The Associated Press
