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Friday, September 17, 2010  A relief well drilled nearly 2.5 miles beneath the floor of the Gulf of Mexico intersected BP's blown-out well, a prelude to permanently killing it, the U.S government said late Thursday.

Friday, August 27, 2010  The federal government said engineers will start work Monday to remove the temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing out of BP's blown-out Gulf well so that crews can raise a key piece of equipment from the seabed.

Friday, August 13, 2010  BP's blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is not yet plugged for good, and work on what's been touted as the permanent solution will need to continue, the federal government said Friday.

Friday, August 13, 2010  Sometime later today, officials are expected to deliver the verdict on whether BP's problem oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is permanently plugged.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010  Approaching storms forced crews to suspend drilling the final stretch of a relief well aimed at shooting a permanent underground plug into BP's busted oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Monday, August 09, 2010  Work began during the weekend to finish drilling the well, and company and government officials say they could hit their target as early as Friday.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010  White House energy adviser Carol Browner said on morning TV talk shows that a new assessment found that about 75 percent of the oil has either been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down in the Gulf.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010  UPDATED 3:45 p.m. CDT with AP video. Engineers began pumping heavy drilling mud into the blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well Tuesday in what they think is their best chance yet to reach the ultimate goal in a delicate process.

Monday, August 02, 2010  Officials have long insisted that a relief well was the only surefire way to kill the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, but with engineers only feet away from completing a pair of them they're now wrestling with how exactly to use them.

Monday, August 02, 2010  UPDATED 8:20 a.m. CDT. Engineers on the Gulf of Mexico hoped to begin work Monday on a plan to to shove mud and perhaps cement into the blown-out oil well at the seafloor, making it easier to end the gusher for good.

Thursday, July 29, 2010  A procedure intended to ease the job of plugging the blownout Gulf well for good could start as early as the weekend, the government's point man for the spill response said Thursday.

Thursday, July 29, 2010  Allen said once oil stops for good, the Coast Guard may start redeploying some of the 11 million feet of boom, 811 oil skimmers and 40,000 people that have been part of the oil spill response.

Friday, July 23, 2010  Engineers prepared to abandon their vigil over BP's broken oil well Friday as ships and rig workers evacuated the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie.

Friday, July 23, 2010  Work to permanently choke off the oil well that had been spewing into the Gulf of Mexico is at a standstill after ships around the site were ordered to evacuate ahead of the approaching Tropical Storm Bonnie.

Thursday, July 22, 2010  A tropical depression is now racing toward the Gulf of Mexico. That's putting pressure on BP and the U.S. government to decide whether to evacuate dozens of ships at the site of the ruptured oil well.