BP prepares to seal off broken oil well in Gulf of Mexico

Last Updated: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:10:00 +1000

Oil giant B-P says it expects to permanently seal off the broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico this Wednesday.

In what's being described as the worst environmental disaster in U-S history, up to 700-million litres of crude have gushed into the Gulf since April.

The oil giant says it will attempt a "static kill" operation this week to try to plug the blown-out deep-sea well.

But the Coast Guard's National Incident Commander Thad Allen says it's still too early to declare that the disaster is over.

"We should not be writing any obituary for this event until the well is completely sealed, until we have no more oil on the surface of the water, until we understand where all the oil has gone to, until the beaches are clean, until the federal, state, and local officials agree that the beaches are clean," he said.