Finally, BP has shut the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico this Thursday after 85 days, 16 hours and 25 minutes after the first explosion on April 20. This is a big sign of relief for the millions of people along the Gulf coast. After successfully capping the leaking well, the big surge of brown cloud at the bottom of the sea disappeared as BP closed the last of the three openings earlier this week with the help of the 75 ton cap.
This feat came after a string of failed attempts to control the leak that included a giant concrete-and-steel box clogged with ice like crystals, siphon tube and colossal stopper trapping very little oil and pumping mud and shredded rubber to jam the well.
At around 2:25 pm CDT, the oil stopped flowing into the water after the engineers dialed back the crude escaping through the last vent in the cap. The cap, which is an 18 ft high metal stack of valves and pipes is designed to stop the oil from flowing into the sea either by capturing and piping the oil to the ships on the surface or by bottling it up inside the well.
Even if this works, it is not a permanent fixture and not the end of this catastrophe. BP is drilling two relief wells to pump mud and cement into the leaking well in hopes of stopping the leak permanently by mid August. However, the Gulf Coast will face a huge clean up and restoration work that could take years to complete.
It has been estimated that around 94 million to 184 million gallons of oil were spilled triggering a massive operation to control and clean up the spilled oil along the US shores.
This feat came after a string of failed attempts to control the leak that included a giant concrete-and-steel box clogged with ice like crystals, siphon tube and colossal stopper trapping very little oil and pumping mud and shredded rubber to jam the well.
At around 2:25 pm CDT, the oil stopped flowing into the water after the engineers dialed back the crude escaping through the last vent in the cap. The cap, which is an 18 ft high metal stack of valves and pipes is designed to stop the oil from flowing into the sea either by capturing and piping the oil to the ships on the surface or by bottling it up inside the well.
Even if this works, it is not a permanent fixture and not the end of this catastrophe. BP is drilling two relief wells to pump mud and cement into the leaking well in hopes of stopping the leak permanently by mid August. However, the Gulf Coast will face a huge clean up and restoration work that could take years to complete.
It has been estimated that around 94 million to 184 million gallons of oil were spilled triggering a massive operation to control and clean up the spilled oil along the US shores.
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