‘Static kill’ ensures no oil will leak into the water, U.S. government says
BP announced Thursday its engineers have successfully plugged the hole at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico with mud and concrete, sealing it permanently. By 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, the company said it had pumped enough concrete and heavy mud into the hole—a process known as a “static kill”—to push the oil back to its original reservoir. BP will also pump mud and concrete through a relief well this month to suffocate the source of the oil. Retired U.S. Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen, the government’s point man on the oil spill disaster, said the plug will “virtually assure us that there will be no oil leaking into the environment.”