BP claimed a key victory Wednesday in the effort to plug its blown-out well as a government report said much of the spilled oil is gone - though what's left is still at least quadruple the amount that poured from the Exxon Valdez. BP PLC reached what it called a significant milestone overnight when mud that was forced down the well held back the flow of crude. That means the procedure known as a “static kill” appears to be working, though crews now must decide whether to follow it up with cement. Federal officials won't declare complete victory until they pump in mud and then cement from the bottom of the well, and that won't happen for several weeks. “We've pretty much made this well not a threat, but we need to finish this from the bottom,” retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man on the spill response, told WWL-TV in New Orleans. About 75 percent of the oil has either been captured, been burned off, evaporated or broken down in the Gulf, according to a report released Wednesday by scientists with the Interior Department and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “It was captured. It was skimmed. It was burned. It was contained. Mother Nature did her part,” White House energy adviser Carol Browner said on NBC television. About 26 percent of the oil remains in the sea in the form of light surface sheen or tar balls, or has washed ashore, according to the report. A little more than 205 million gallons gushed in total from the well, based on government estimates. That means, according to the report, that at least 51 million gallons remain in the Gulf. Crews managed to burn, skim or siphon off 33 million gallons in the days after the April 20 explosion aboard the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon. Even if the Gulf well had leaked only 51 million gallons to begin with, it would still rate among the worst oil spills in history. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill that wreaked environmental havoc in Alaska in 1989 spilled 11 million gallons.
