BP is pressing on with its relief well
"Thad Allen, the government's point man for the spill, this week announced a new double-barreled plan for plugging and abandoning it.
That plan adds a step, which Allen described as standard procedure for abandoning a well, in which a rig now connected to the top of the well will pump cement into it from there.
After that, additional cement will be pumped in through a relief well positioned to intercept the Macondo near the reservoir it tapped 13,000 feet below the seafloor.
Allen said engineers at BP headquarters in Houston are developing plans for the top and bottom kills, which could occur by the end of the month, barring bad weather."
International drilling regulators huddle over Macondo
"A key U.S. government official said Friday the moratorium on deepwater oil drilling likely won't be extended past Nov. 30, but whether it is cut short will be entirely up to the industry.
Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, told The Associated Press during a break in a public forum in coastal Mississippi that the industry must comply with current and soon-to-be-imposed safety regulations."
