BP has announced that it has successfully capped the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico, bringing an end to the largest oil spill in US history.

The company conducted preliminary tests on the well cap yesterday and confirmed that the flow of oil has now been stanched, nearly three months after an explosion onboard the Deepwater Horizon caused the vessel to collapse.

However, the company is expected to return to siphoning oil from the well while it works on a long-term cap to close the well permanently.

Responding to the announcement, President Obama declared it a "positive sign", while Doug Suttles, a senior BP executive, told Reuters that the company is still "a long way from the finish line".

BP has hired and trained a team of more than 11,000 workers as part of its onshore response strategy alone, and has developed multilingual, tiered training programmes operating in regional Gulf of Mexico communities.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development