Retired US Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Tuesday that drilling of the relief well to seal BP's Macondo well has been suspended because of a developing weather system in the Gulf of Mexico

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Allen said that the relief well is about 30 feet from the Macondo well. The original plan was for the final phase of killing the well to begin by the weekend, but Allen said this would be delayed now by two to three days -- placing the window now from Sunday through Tuesday. The Development Driller III, which is drilling the first of two relief wells, will not leave the scene, Allen said. He explained that work crews will put a storm packer in the casing and remove the drilling string. Once the weather conditions improve, the storm packer will be removed and drilling will resume. The National Hurricane Center reports that the weather system has about a 60% chance of becoming a tropical storm. NHC models have the storm passing over the drilling site at the Mississippi Canyon Block 252 before moving onshore in Louisiana.