BP, which is eager to turn a corner on the disaster, said it had made an initial deposit of three billion dollars into the 20-billion-dollar US-managed fund to compensate residents and businesses battered by the spill.

"The purpose of the escrow account was to assure those adversely affected by the spill that we indeed intend to stand behind our commitment to them and to the American taxpayers," BP's incoming CEO Bob Dudley said in a statement.

"Establishing this trust and making the initial deposit ahead of schedule further demonstrates our commitment to making it right in the Gulf Coast."

The fund is being overseen by prominent lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who managed compensation claims by victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and was appointed to his present role by US President Barack Obama.

With BP's relief well poised to intercept the blown-out Macondo well and the final "bottom kill" operation just days away, Obama said the battle against the undersea gusher "is just about over."

Obama hailed the latest progress to permanently seal the well that unleashed the worst maritime oil spill in history.

"Yesterday we learned that the procedure to prevent any more oil from spilling with a cement plug appears to have succeeded," he said.

"The final steps will be taken later in August when those relief wells are completed, but what is clear is that the battle to stop the oil from flowing into the Gulf is just about over."

But Obama, who served Gulf seafood at a White House event Sunday to help boost confidence in the region's billion-dollar fishing industry, stressed that the broader, long-term effort to restore the region was just beginning.

"The work goes on," he said during a White House ceremony Monday to honor the New Orleans Saints, the reigning Superbowl champions.

"I've made the commitment to the people of the Gulf Coast that I would stand by, not just until the well is closed, but until they recover from the damage that's been done. And that's a commitment that my administration is going to keep."

To that effect Dudley and Lamar McKay, another top BP executive, were called Monday to the White House to meet with senior Obama administration officials including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, energy adviser Carol Browner, and spill pointman Thad Allen.

"They impressed upon BP the importance of living up to their commitment to long term recovery, and underscored that the administration will remain vigilant in ensuring that promise is met," a White House statement said.

Allen said earlier that after drilling down some 17,909 feet (5,426 meters) below sea level in the Gulf of Mexico, the relief well was now only 30 to 40 feet from the outside casing of the well shaft.

"We expect that sometime toward the end of the week we'll be in a position to intercept the annulus and commence the kill," Allen said, referring to the area between the well pipe and the outer bore of the well.

Once the interception occurs, engineers will pump heavy drilling fluid, known as "mud," and then cement into the well shaft to provide a permanent seal over the oil reservoir miles beneath the sea floor.

BP performed a static kill operation last week to suppress the gushing oil with mud and put a basic cement plug over the top of it.

The well ruptured when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22, two days after a massive explosion that killed 11 workers.

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