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Aug. 7 could be beginning of the end for BP well

For the first time in the nearly 100 days since the start of the BP oil spill, officials have announced a hard date for finally killing the busted well: Aug. 7.
Image: The new containment capping stack is pictured in this image captured from a BP live video feed from the Gulf of Mexico
The containment cap on the bust BP well is pictured in this image captured from a BP live video feed on Sunday.HO / Reuters
/ Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports

For the first time in the nearly 100 days since the start of the BP oil spill, officials have announced a hard date for finally killing the busted well: Aug. 7.

It's still an estimate, but the timetable set out Monday by National Incident Commander Thad Allen was pretty specific: Preparations this week to finish reaching the busted well via a relief well, then plugging the top of the busted well next Monday with cement and drilling mud in what's called a "static kill".

Five days later, Allen told reporters, a "bottom kill" should begin that — hopefully — ensures the well never leaks again.

The well now remains capped, having shut in all oil flow since July 15, but that containment system is only temporary.

Here's an explanation of BP's next steps, according to Allen and Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production:

The relief wells
A rig that has been drilling the first of two relief wells has reconnected its piping after shutting down operations due to Tropical Storm Bonnie. A plug that had been placed in the well to keep it stable is being removed, and the well will be cleaned.

BP will then insert and cement in place the last piece of pipe, called casing, at the bottom of the relief well prior to boring into the busted well.

After the casing is in place but before drilling resumes, BP aims to begin the static kill.

The static kill
This resembles BP's failed "top kill" in May, except that the well is now capped and sealed.

The top kill failed because heavy mud shot out the top of the leak along with crude and couldn't smother the leak.

As with the top kill, heavy mud will be pumped into the well from surface vessels through pipes and hoses connected to a failed blowout preventer at the seabed.

Because oil no longer has an escape route, the mud is expected to push it back down to the reservoir.

Cement can then be pumped into the well to plug and kill the leak at the bottom.

The first relief well will then drill into the space between the well's pipe and the strata, called the annulus. If oil is flowing there, more mud and cement will be pumped in through the relief well.

Once that cement dries, the relief well will bore into the well pipe to ensure that the static kill plugged it.

That will also allow more mud and cement to be pumped in through the bottom to finish the job.

Well pressure
In addition, BP has monitored pressure in the busted well for signs of leaks or problems since it was sealed shut .

Pressure has slowly risen from 6,700 pounds per square inch on July 16 to 6,904 psi on July 25.

Rising pressure indicates the pipe and cement in the well remain intact after the April 20 blowout. Lower or falling pressure would be a sign the well is damaged, allowing oil to leak out the sides and possibly breach the seafloor.

Pressure above 7,500 psi would show the well is intact, while pressure that falls or fails to rise above 6,000 psi would indicate a problem. The slowly rising pressure could be a sign that the reservoir is largely depleted from the leak.

'100 percent' on cleanup
In cleanup news, Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, the federal on-scene coordinator for the disaster, said that operations drawn down during Bonnie "are back to 100 percent … in terms of skimmers, people, boats, you name it."

And while Bonnie doesn’t appear to have reoiled marshes, it did displace more than 95 miles of boom and another "32 miles that was displaced onto marshy areas," he said.

Because boom that is dragged into marshes can harm it, crews are rolling it back where there’s no imminent oiling threat.

"The boom is designed to protect the sensitive areas," he said. "But in the event of a major storm … it will wash over those areas and actually cause more harm."

Zukunfed added that the use of chemical dispersants to break up oil is over, mostly because the oil has weathered to the point where it "would be inefficient and ineffective" to use. "The only scenario where I would consider using dispersant is if we had a new release of oil," he said.