BP hails 'static kill' a success as costs soar

9th Aug 2010 07:03

BP's "static kill" and cementing procedures at the broken MC252 well have been "successful", stopping oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, the company confirmed Monday as the cost of the spill topped $6bn.The first of two relief wells should also make contact with the original well on 15 August, the oil giant said.Over 30,000 people, 5,000 vessels and dozens of aircraft are still involved in the response effort, which comes at a cost to BP.It has paid out $6.1bn (£3.8bn) so far, including $319m to settle almost 104,000 claims. Another 41,000 claims are currently being processed.This could be the beginning of the end for the spill, which, until a temporary seal was put in place a few weeks ago, had been growing at a rate of about 60,000 barrels of oil a day since the well blew up on 20 April killing 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon platform. The worst environmental disaster in American history also led to a pre-tax loss of $17bn in the second quarter and cost chief executive Tony Hayward his job. A series of asset sales to help pay for the clean-up operation saw BP sell businesses in Colombia recently for $1.9bn (£1.2bn). More are expected.