Offshore Drilling, Gulf Oil Spill | featured news

With the replacement of the failed blowout preventer and a cement plug in place, the well's seal is almost permanent, the federal spill response chief says. The final step will be to plug the well from the bottom.

Federal official calls for additional pressure tests before he will give the OK to finish drilling a relief well intended to help plug BP's runaway well for goodGulf Oil Gone?

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.

BP PLC says it may in the future drill in the same Gulf of Mexico oil reservoir that blew its top and caused one of the world's worst spills. Officials said Friday at a news briefing in New Orleans that the company hasn't closed the door to tapping the reservoir again. Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles says "there's lots of oil and gas here." He says "we're going to have to think about what to do with that at some point."

Gov't scientists now estimate nearly 5 million barrels of oil have leaked into the Gulf since April, easily topping Mexico's 1979 spill of 3.3 million barrels | DAY 105Questions on Dispersants |

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.

Up to 4 million barrels (167 million gallons), the vast majority of the spill, remains unaccounted for in government statistics. Some of it has, most likely, been cleaned up by nature. Other amounts may be gone from the water, but they could have taken on a second life as contaminants in the air, or in landfills around the Gulf Coast.

Spill from blowout is degrading rapidly in warm waters, becoming tougher to find, director says.

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.

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.