Relief Well Work, Cleanup Continue At Blowout Site

HOUMA, La. (AP) — Federal regulators say drilling continues on a relief well to permanently seal a natural gas well that blew wild last month in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement spokeswoman Eileen Angelico says crews finished plugging and cementing the original well on Aug. 13. She says debris is still being removed from the sea floor around the well that blew July 23 in shallow water about 55 miles south of Louisiana'scoast.

Angelico says no gas has been detected in the area and no sheen has been observed.

The agency is overseeing Walter Oil & Gas Corp.'s cleanup and the drilling that began Aug. 4.

Drilling mud and cement will be pumped into the well once the relief well intercepts it.