Engineers had spent days pumping heavy drilling fluid into the leaking well head on the ocean floor in a high-pressure bid to smother the gushing crude and ultimately seal the well with cement.

工程师们数日来一直向海底的泄漏油井泵入大量的钻探泥浆，希望用高压堵住喷涌的原油，最后用水泥封死油井。

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That was beyond the reach of conventional drilling platforms, which stand on steel legs anchored to the ocean floor.

FORBES: Going deep

Chevron miscalculated its drilling of its Frade field last November, an oil well just under the ocean floor in the Santos Basin in Brazil, about 70 kilometers off coastal Rio de Janeiro.

FORBES: For Brazil Oil Spill, Chevron Gets A Discount