Celebration in the control room but BP warns that effort to seal off well for good is 'far from the finish line'
After 87 days, numerous false starts and broken promises, and more than 4m barrels of oil spewed into the ecologically rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the moment was almost too sweet to take in: BP's underwater cameras, dubbed "spillcams", finally broadcast a picture that was clean, calm and absolutely devoid of any billowing oil.
Clapping, handshakes and backslaps erupted in the control room in Houston where BP and US government scientists have mingled, fretted and plotted since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on 20 April. At 2.25pm on Thursday, the last of three valves in the new sealing cap placed over the Macondo well was at last closed, and the dirty cloud of oil and gas that has become a symbol of nature's ability to bite back against man's insatiable demand for energy thinned and was no more.
Verbally, the reaction of key players was muted. After a textbook example of how not to conduct public relations in a crisis, they have learned to avoid giving any impression of euphoria.
