Although a tie back on the bottom 7" liner would have been a better design for the casing program, the disaster still could have been averted if the BP Drilling Supervisor and BP Superintendent on the beach had utilized some common sense as well as exercised sound established oil industry (spelled CONSCIENTIOUS) practices.
1. What was the justification for only utilizing 51 Bbls. of Cement slurry (WITH NITROGEN?). Furthermore, why was there no plan to bring the annular cement column from outside the 7" Liner (@ 18,360 ft.) up to the bottom of the next casing string - 9 7/8" (@ 17,168 ft.)? This primary Cementing job on the bottom hole section was CRITICAL to seal off and isolate the oil and gas bearing formation with the 7" casing.
2. Also, only a total of 6 centralizers were reportedly utilized instead of the recommended 21 by Halliburton while Cementing the 7" Liner. NOTE: Centralizers DO NOT centralize the casing but prevent standoff of the pipe and formation. The additional Centralizers could quite possibly have helped to obtain a primary cement job on the CRITICAL bottom section of hole around the 7" Liner assuming sufficient Cement Slurry volume was utilized.
3. BP only waited 16? hrs on the cement to harden (insufficient time to allow the cement to set and bond to the formation and casing). No Cement Bond Log (CBL) was run. Furthermore, the test on the casing was suspicious or suspect as well according to a BP VP after the fact. Why did work continue without fixing the problem at the source?
4. Even after all the problems associated with the cementing program, then there was the fatal decision while Plugging and Abandoning (P & A) to displace the 14.0 ppg weighted mud in the well with water which could have collapsed the casing if the cement did not have time to set (this could present a problem in the future with cementing the Macondo blowout from one of the relief wells if the casing in the Macondo well is parted, i.e. the casing has no integrity?.) The well was static (did not flow) with 14.0 ppg mud in the well when the decision was made to displace the 14.0 ppg weighted mud with unweighted 8.4? ppg water and pump 3 separate Cement plugs.
I have a quotation which is also relevant to the subject from a textbook entitled, "Practical Well Planning and Drilling Manual" by Steve Devereux (PennWell Books 1998) from the Introduction:
Early in the 1990s, operators and drilling contractors slowed down or stopped their ongoing training programs. This was largely due to low oil prices and high drilling costs. With less activity, many skilled people left the industry. The accountants decided that funds spent on training should be assigned elsewhere (perhaps on recruiting more accountants?) and so the major sources of highly trained, well-rounded drilling people dried up. To continue operating, new contracting schemes transferred responsibility from the operators to the contractors. This led to an exodus of people from the operators to the contractors and into the consulting market, depleting those skills within the operators much faster than by natural attrition and without replacing them, except by employing consultants. Some operators may end up with no one to properly supervise the core business of drilling. This will expose them to risks associated with major incidents such as blowouts without being able to manage that risk. Even on a turnkey well, the operator still has risks...
Another clear trend is that many people planning and supervising wells do not have significant wellsite exposure. You can take the smartest person there is, put them through a degree program, and send them to all possible classroom courses. However, without the practical knowledge--the feel for drilling that comes from years on the rig--they are unlikely to become first class drilling people. They will tend to "use their PCs as a senior partner to make decisions for them rather than as a tool to help them make better-informed decisions themselves". and they will be unduly influenced by the people around them.
Profound and prophetic words.
The real ongoing tragedy will be compounded upon the American public, if the Obama administration is allowed to institute a 6 month moratorium on "deepwater" (> 500 ft.) in the Gulf of Mexico. The phenomena of Annular Gas Flow after Cementing can occur at any water depth or on land for that matter. There is no problematic correlation to water depth.
Bernstein Research reports that if a moratorium is allowed to occur for a year, it would cut global oil supplies by 500,000 Bbls/day between 2013 - 2017. It's nearly the margin right now between World Oil Production of 84.1 Million Bbls/day and World Consumption at 83.7 Million Bbls/day. (See PBS Nightly Business Report (transcripts), May 28th)
Salazar imposed the moratorium on oil shale and now drilling.
You can skip the excuses and the fine print, he is doing what he came there to do.
6 months of unemploymnet checks for the thousands purposely put out of work in the gulf by the decietful despicable criminal cabal.
They create dependents by way of Chicago thuggery. want your check, then you know who to vote for
What oil company will obey it? NONE.Its not enforceable, unless its by thug rule based not on law, but on political correctness.I hope all the oil commpanies enter into civil disobedience.
Salazar is going for the ‘Double Dog Dare’.
Soros apparently insisted to his puppet in the white house that the US not compete with his international oil investments.
How ‘bout knocking off abusing the Breaking and Frontpage sidebars...