Ruptured BP well to be sealed today

BP will see its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well “completely sealed” today, the British energy giant said, plugging once and for all the runaway well that caused the largest maritime spill in history.

“It is expected that the MC252 well will be completely sealed on Saturday,” the company said in a statement.

US authorities had announced hours earlier that engineers intercepted the shaft with a relief well, through which they will now pump cement into and around the shaft in a “bottom kill” operation that has been months in the making.