A great relief has been felt by the residents in the coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico when BP finally succeeded to permanently plug their ruptured oil well.
The apparent success came 106 days after the catastrophic explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 that resulted to death of many workers and the unleashing of what is dubbed as the biggest oil spill in history.
The estimated 4.9 million barrel leak was already seriously threatening the fish and wildlife-rich US Gulf coast with environmental ruin and exposed the residents of coastal communities to a bleak, if not uncertain future.
The plugging procedure involved pumping of mud into the busted well for eight hours pushing the leaking crude oil back into its source rock.
Another course of action, if needed still, is to inject cement into the well via the same route.
The “static kill procedure,” as the remedial measure was called, is having the well pressure controlled by the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud.
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