Final plugging of BP well

THE final plugging of BP’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well will begin next month, the US government said yesterday.

The plan is to replace a failed piece of equipment called the blowout preventer first.

Then BP will finish drilling a relief well that it can use to plug up the blown-out well with mud and cement from the bottom. This is a procedure known as a bottom kill.

Jeffrey Carter, an aide to the government’s spill chief, said that if everything goes as planned, the final plugging will begin after the September 6 Labour Day holiday.