BP removes Gulf of Mexico oil rig cap
BP has removed a temporary cap, which will be brought to the surface for examination and held as evidence in an official investigation.
Oil giant British Petroleum (BP) has removed the temporary cap that stemmed the flow of oil from its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, reports say.
"Under the direction of the federal science team and US government engineers, BP has completed the capping stack removal procedure," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said on Thursday, according to AFP.
The British oil giant says it will now try to replace the broken safety valve, which triggered the spill in the first place.
BP can then resume with the 'bottom kill' operation, which involves drilling a relief well that will intercept the crippled well and then pump mud and cement for a permanent plugging of the well.
The removed cap will be brought to the surface for examination. It will be held as evidence in an official investigation into the explosion by the US Coast Guard and the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Reuters reports.
BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20 killing 11 people and causing the worst oil spill in the US history.
An estimated five million barrels of crude leaked into the water, polluting beaches in the southern United States and devastating the region's fishing and tourism industries that, according to experts, will take years to recover.
RBK/SAR/MB
