BP May Decide Today to Move Ahead With Bottom Kill

BP (BP) and U.S. authorities may make the decision today to move ahead with the so-called bottom kill operation to finally seal the ruptured Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The bottom kill would be a four-day process of pumping cement into the well from below, closing it off from the reservoir of oil that feeds it. The well has already been sealed from the top.

"We are preparing risk assessments and plans," BP spokesman Robert Wines said, according to McClatchy-Tribune News Service.

The oil well, which spewed crude into the water for nearly three months, was capped on July 15. Since then, engineers have been working on a permanent solution to the nation's worst-ever environmental disaster.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander, said further tests need to be done before BP begins the bottom kill.

The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and rupturing the Macondo well.