BP’s Static Kill Appears to Be Successful

According to New York Times, BP said Wednesday that “static kill” appeared to be effective. The company started pumping mud into its ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday. The procedure is said to be working and has stabilized the pressure in the oil well.
Static kill is one of the company’s efforts to seal the well once and for all. However, British energy giant has been harshly criticized for its delayed and inappropriate handling of the matter, as they come up with this solution after more than 100 days have been passed since the the Macondo oil well blew out, killing 11 people and sinking the whole Deepwater Horizonrig on April 20. Scientists revealed that around 5 million barrels of oil seeped into the Gulf of Mexico since then.
All previous efforts to cap the well or hold back the crude have been unsuccessful until three weeks ago.
However, BP is now confident of the proceedings, and hope to seal the well permanently in August. Engineers pumped 13.2 pounds mud per gallon back into the leaking well. Cement will be applied in a few day, but it entirely depends on the success of mud pumping operation.
The company said in a statement on Wednesday, “The well pressure is now being controlled by the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud, which is the desired outcome of the static kill procedure carried out yesterday. The well is now being monitored, per the agreed procedure, to ensure it remains static. Further pumping of mud may or may not be required depending on results observed during monitoring.”