By Leigh Coleman
July 30, 2010 4:06 PM EDT
BP Plc will attempt on Tuesday a planned "static kill" operation to seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well, and hopes to have a relief well finished by the end of August, incoming company CEO Bob Dudley said on Friday.
The "static kill" will involve pumping drilling mud and cement into the undersea Macondo well, while the relief well will offer a more permanent plug for the site, which caused the worst off-shore oil spill in U.S. history.
Dudley told a news conference in Mississippi BP was also in the middle of a $25 billion-$30 billion global asset sale, which will help the company meet the costs of the spill clean-up and a barrage of related damage claims and lawsuits.
"We want to absolutely kill this well. The static kill will be attempted on Tuesday. The relief well by the end of the month (August)," said Dudley, who has been BP's top executive on the Gulf oil spill since June 4 and who will replace Tony Hayward as BP's CEO on October 1.
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"We have begun a rather large asset change at BP. We have about $32 billion liability claims on the books right now. We have a $25-$30 billion asset sale around the globe. Hopefully people will realize that we are serious about meeting our financial obligations," he said.
Millions of gallons (liters) of oil have poured into the Gulf since April, when a rig exploded and sank, killing 11 workers and triggering the leak from the BP-owned well.
The spill has ruined the livelihoods of fishermen and other business owners along the Gulf Coast and presented a huge challenge to BP and to President Barack Obama's administration.
"This has been a real wake-up call for the oil and gas industry," Dudley said.
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