As ’static kill’ begins in Gulf, officials caution it’s not quite a cure-all to plug well

Seafloor gusher requires attack from 2 directions

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO — The mud being forced down a broken wellhead to permanently plug the gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is only half the story.

To call the mission a success, crews working on a flotilla of vessels on a desolate patch of water need to seal off from two directions the source of the worst offshore leak in U.S. history.

BP PLC began pumping mud down the throat of its blown-out well Tuesday in an effort called a “static kill” that could continue through Thursday. Engineers won’t know for more than a week whether it chokes off the oil once and for all.

The crew aboard the vessel the Q4000 that is being used to pump in the mud was eager for the work to get under way.

“Being part of the solution is certainly something I hold very close to my heart,” Capt. Keith Schultz told an Associated Press reporter on board.

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

Still, an 18,000-foot relief well that BP has been drilling for 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 2½ miles below the sea floor to finish the job, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

“There should be no ambiguity about that,” Allen said. “I’m the national incident commander, and this is how this will be handled.”

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.

Before the cap was lowered onto the well, 172 million gallons of crude flowed into the sea, unleashed by the April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon that killed 11 workers. A previous, similar effort failed in May when the mud couldn’t overcome the unstemmed flow of oil.

BP won’t know for certain whether the static kill has succeeded until engineers can use the soon-to-be-completed relief well to check their work.

The task is becoming more urgent because peak hurricane season is just around the corner, Allen said. Tropical Storm Colin formed then dissipated far out in the Atlantic on Tuesday, but early forecasts say it will travel toward the East Coast rather than the Gulf.

“This is a really positive step forward,” Allen said. “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.”

The pressure in the well dropped quickly in the first 90 minutes of the procedure, a sign that everything was going as planned, wellsite leader Bobby Bolton told AP.

The work could be done quickly, or take several days. Bolton said Tuesday night that the procedure was going well. “Pressure is down and appears to be stabilizing,” he told the AP.

On the Q4000, workers in red jumpsuits scurried about, pressing buttons and monitoring gauges. Some relaxed in the galley, watching “Law and Order,” while others typed on laptops. They were in constant contact with BP’s command center in Houston, where decisions about the procedure were being made.

“We’re just waiting to get feedback from the experts who are looking at the data,” Bolton said.

The 122 crew members on the Q4000 were excited about being part of what could be the final resolution, Schultz said.

“I’m a mariner, and we lost mariners out here,” said Schultz, who is on his second 28-day tour of duty since the spill started. “I’m very confident we’ll be able to kill this well. It’s been one magical time trying to get this thing plugged.”

Weber reported from aboard the Q4000. Bluestein reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writer Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this report.