BP begins 'Static Kill,' to permanently seal oil leak shaft

London, August 4 (ANI): British Petroleum has begun pumping heavy drilling mud into its stricken well in the Gulf of Mexico, a procedure known as 'static kill', on Tuesday to permanently seal the shaft or at least reveal critical clues on how to kill it before the end of this month.

"The static kill will increase the probability that the relief well will work," The New York Times quoted a retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the leader of the federal spill response effort said.

"But the whole thing will not be done until the relief well is completed," he added.

Till yesterday, engineers pumped mud weighing about 13.2 pounds per gallon at slow speeds from a surface vessel through a choke line into the blowout preventer on top of the well.

Before BP began the static kill operation, they completed several hours of testing by shooting refined oil through the well to check well pressures and determine that they could inject liquids into the reservoir, the paper states.

According to officials, the static kill operation could last nearly three days and after its completion, work is expected to resume on the final 100 feet of the first relief well and should be completed by August 15. A final killing of the well should be completed by the end of the month.

The declaration has comes 100 days after the Macondo well blew out, sinking the Deepwater Horizon platform, killing 11 drill workers, and spewing nearly 5 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. (ANI)