As Gulf plug firms, BP shuffles its spill team

A mud-and-cement plug cured today in a blown-out oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, a key effort in snuffing the massive leak for good, while a BP personnel shuffle indicated shifting priorities as the petroleum giant gains the upper hand. Engineers this week had poured in cement to complete a plug at the top of the wellbore as part of a process dubbed a “static kill,” but they needed to wait at least a day for it to harden. Once it does, crews can finish the last stretch of a relief well and inject more mud and cement into the bottom of the well from deep underground to form a final plug. The static kill started Tuesday with engineers pumping enough mud down the top of the well to push the crude back to its underground source for the first time since an oil rig exploded off Louisiana on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the massive spill. BP announced today the high-level executive who has spent more than three months managing its oil spill response, Doug Suttles, was returning immediately to Houston and his old job as chief operating officer. He’s being replaced by Mike Utsler, who has been running BP’s command post in Houma since April. Utsler, a vice president at BP, has been with the oil giant for 33 years. Some residents worry that now that the blown well has apparently flatlined, the nation’s attention will shift from the coast.