Relief well intersects with sunken well

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- BP finished work on a relief well, allowing it to permanently seal the well that spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, an official said.

BP can go ahead with a "bottom kill," a process in which heavy mud and cement are pumped into the bottom part of the crippled well through the relief well so the original well can be permanently sealed, CNN reported Friday.

"Through a combination of sensors embedded in the drilling equipment and sophisticated instrumentation ... BP engineers and the federal science team have concluded that the Development Driller III relief well has intersected the Macondo well (the destroyed well)," retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man for the disaster, said in a statement issued late Thursday.

The government estimates 4.9 million barrels -- 206 million gallons -- of oil gushed into the gulf from April 20 -- when a Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men, and sank two days later.

The well was temporarily capped July 15.