Engineers set to perform "static kill" on oil well

NEW ORLEANS - The only thing keeping millions more gallons of oil out of the Gulf of Mexico right now is a rush job: an experimental cap that has held for more than two weeks but was never meant to be permanent. As soon as this week, crews will be pumping in some insurance.

Engineers are preparing to launch a so-called static kill as early as Monday evening, shoving mud and perhaps cement into the blown-out well to make it easier to plug the gusher up forever and end the Summer of the Spill.

The effort carries no certainty, and BP PLC engineers still plan to follow it up days later by sending a stream of mud and cement into the bottom of the mile-deep underground reservoir through a relief well they've been digging for months.

But the oil giant's engineers and petroleum experts say it's the clearest path yet to choke the blown-out well and make it even easier for the crews drilling the relief well to ensure oil can never again erupt from the deep-sea well, which has spewed as much as 184 million gallons since the rig connected to it blew up in April and killed 11 workers.

When it begins, crews will slowly pump heavy mud through lines installed last month straight down the throat of the leaky well. If the mud forces the oil back into the massive underground reservoir and scientists are confident the pressure remains stable, then engineers can pump in fresh cement to seal it.

"The only thing that separates the oil from the sea now is the valve. This puts thousands of feet of mud and cement in between," said Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute.

No oil has leaked from the well since engineers were able to fix a tightly fitting cap over its outlet two weeks ago.

Also Sunday, the Environmental Protection Agency said BP cut its use of chemical dispersants in the oil spill after being ordered to do so.

The EPA statement comes a day after Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) released a letter saying that "BP often carpet bombed the ocean with these chemicals and the Coast Guard allowed them to do it." The EPA said it ordered BP in late May to cut use of chemical dispersants by three-quarters. It said BP had nearly met that threshold by mid-July.