Oil Spill, Bp Oil Spill Containment | featured news

BP was working to remove the failed blowout preventer from its ruptured well  — a key step towards killing the well and salvaging evidence that could help in the inquiry into the disaster.

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 claimed a key victory Wednesday in the effort to plug its blown-out well as a government report said much of the spilled oil is gone — though what's left is still nearly five times the amount that poured from the Exxon Valdez.

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.