[Ruilnasr]

Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida (CNN) -- Federal officials are far from ready to "write the obituary" on the Gulf oil spill, even as crews count down toward two efforts to seal the crippled BP oil well once and for all.

The retired Coast Guard admiral overseeing the federal response, Thad Allen, offered that assurance to Gulf area residents Friday, as preparations continue for the first of the efforts -- known as a "static kill" -- when mud and cement are poured into the well from above. The static kill has been pushed back about a day, and now is likely to happen Monday or Tuesday, so that debris that collected during Tropical Storm Bonnie can be cleared out.

That will be followed by a final "bottom kill" after a relief well intercepts the crippled well -- a step expected by the end of August. But sealing the well is not the end of the story.

"We should not be writing any obituary on this event," Allen said. He vowed that won't happen "until the well is completely sealed, until we have no more oil on the surface of the water, until we understand where all the oil has gone to, until the beaches are clean -- and state and local officials agree that the beaches are clean."

He noted that tar balls and oil will be "showing up on beaches for quite some time."

"We're still engaged in this fight, and we need to stay engaged," he said. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/30/gul...ex.html?hpt=T2