Top kill operation underway in Gulf blowout

BBC:

BP says it has begun pumping mud into a breached Gulf of Mexico oil well to try to stem the flow of oil caused by a rig explosion last month.

The US government had earlier approved the move, a so-called "top kill", which has never been tried at such a depth.

...

Company officials say it could be a couple of days before they know whether the "top kill" operation is working.

Mud will continue to be pumped into the well for hours, spokesman Steve Rinehart said.

"The procedure is intended to stem the flow of oil and gas and ultimately kill the well by injecting heavy drilling fluids through the blowout preventer on the seabed, down into the well," a BP statement said.

If the oil flow is successfully capped, engineers will follow up with cement to seal the well permanently.

...

See this post for a link to a video which shows how the operation works. It also explains other things BP is doing to staunch the flow of oil and capture what they can. It is an excellent video with graphics that show what is going on beneath the surface as well as on top.

Watching the folks complaining about the effort to stop the leak show a lot ignorance of what is really going on. Many of the critics remind me of the kids in the back seat saying "are we there yet Daddy?" BP has every incentive to solve this problem and they do not need a fascist boot on their neck to do their job.

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