Oil Spill Containment | featured news

After five months, the BP well that spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is on the verge of being plugged.

BP Plc said on Friday it has completed a pressure test on its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well and those results are under review by government scientists and the British oil company.

Only about 26 percent of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak is still in the water or onshore, and most of it is diluted and breaking down rapidly, officials say.

One hundred days after an oil well operated by BP ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico, the man overseeing the federal response is optimistic that steps planned for the coming days will finally, permanently seal the well.

US weather forecasters say a storm system moving through the Gulf of Mexico and delaying work on BP's broken oil well has weakened. The National Hurricane Center said Saturday that the remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie are diminishing as it ...

Engineers fighting the Gulf oil spill are confident that the cap over the well is strong enough that they may be able to plug it up soon.

Despite concerns about problems on the seafloor near the well, government officials on Monday said they would allow the pressure test to continue.

The recently recapped oil well in the Gulf of Mexico could remain closed until the relief well is drilled if tests remain favorable, a BP official said Sunday morning.

Officials on Saturday said that pressure readings in the well were rising steadily after the valves were closed on a cap at the well’s top.

BP Plc's stricken Gulf of Mexico oil well showed no signs of leaking on Friday, but officials intensified oversight after a critical test showed pressure barely rising in the capped gusher.