BP's new chief executive Bob Dudley says the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico may be permanently shut down as early as Monday, Press TV reported.
"It is possible that as early as Monday or Tuesday this well might be killed," Dudley said on National Public Radio on Wednesday.
"There's no precision, there's nothing guaranteed. I'm hopeful and I do believe we've seen the end of oil flowing into the Gulf," he added.
Dudley says BP will continue cleanup efforts of the oil spill long after the well is capped.
Meanwhile, US Senator Bill Nelson has called for a congressional inquiry into BP's intention to claim billions of dollars of its cleanup cost as a tax deduction, Reuters reported.
Nelson announced on Wednesday that he wants a probe into whether BP can deduct legal expenses pertaining to nondeductible penalties and fines as a tax break.
"I was appalled upon learning that BP intends to shift nearly $10 billion of the costs related to the Gulf oil spill to the backs of American taxpayers, including the very taxpayers whose lives have been devastated by the spill," Nelson wrote to the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
BP has said that it is acting in accordance with US tax laws.