BP crews were drilling cautiously Monday to finish a relief well designed to shoot a permanent plug into the oil gusher that polluted the Gulf of Mexico for more than 12 weeks.
Engineers were drilling the final 100 feet of the well in 20- to 30-foot increments before stopping to check it is still on track to hit the busted well, said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man overseeing the cleanup operation. They hope the two well bores will intersect by the end of the week.
The oil is already being kept in its underground reservoir by thousands of gallons of mud and cement that were poured last week through a cap that had been keeping the crude out of the water since July 15. The cement cap poured on top of the oil hardened enough over the weekend to create a solid seal, BP said.
No one at BP or with the government has been willing to declare victory over the spill, but Allen said Monday he is confident that that day isn't far away.
"This step, in our view, will permanently seal the well," said Allen, who plans a three-day trip to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama this week to talk with local officials about how to accelerate clean up efforts as the peak of hurricane season approaches.
