Gulf oil spill: The Halliburton connection

LA Times ^ | April 30, 2010 | Margot Roosevelt and Jill Leovy

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Investigators delving into the possible cause of the massive gulf oil spill are focusing on the role of Houston-based Halliburton Co., the giant energy services company, which was responsible for cementing the drill into place below the water. The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.

In a letter to to Halliburton Chief Executive David J. Lesar on Friday, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, called on Halliburton officials to provide all documents relating to "the possibility or risk of an explosion or blowout at the Deepwater Horizon rig and the status, adequacy, quality, monitoring, and inspection of the cementing work" by May 7.

In a statement Friday, Halliburton said "it is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any specific causal issues." The company had four employees stationed on the rig at the time of the accident, all of whom were rescued by the Coast Guard. "Halliburton had completed the cementing of the final production casing string in accordance with the well design," it said. "The cement slurry design was consistent with that utilized in other similar applications. In accordance with accepted industry practice ... tests demonstrating the integrity of the production casing string were completed."

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Bush's fault.

[Past Your Eyes]

Waxman and Stupak. There’s a pair that would beat a full house any day.

[cripplecreek]

Seems to me that there isn’t a whole lot in the petroleum industry that Haliburton isn’t connected to. After all, oil is their business.

[libertylover]

called on Halliburton officials to provide all documents

Obama demanding PAPERS from Halliburton!

[silverleaf]

Halliburton! Time for Waxman et al to a frog march Dick Cheney! Oh yes, and Bush’s fault. He and all his friends in big oil. sarc

here it comes- the blame game, as the Gulf Coast dies the democrats will turn to running against BIG OIL and GOP greed through next November

[AlexW]

We all know that Halliburton is a favorite whipping boy
of the neo-Marxist.
It consist of everything that Commies hate.

[cripplecreek]

Talking to a liberal about Haliburton a while back and he told me “Haliburton is just too big man.”. I asked what he would do about it and he said it should by broken up into hundreds of small independent businesses.

There’s a real reality deficit on the left. 6 pot smoking hippies in a storefront are never going to do what Haliburton does. In fact, “big oil” and its related industries are big out of necessity, not greed.

[Quickgun]

Yep. I work in the oilfield ,sometimes for Halliburton, I am somewhat familiar with cementing operations, and I cannot see where this is even remotely possible to be Halliburton’s fault.
The commie lies know no bounds....

[VRW Conspirator]

Bush’s fault? Don’t you know that when you hear of the company Haliburton, you must mention Dick Cheney in the same sentence.

[TomGuy]

Halliburton. Better the devil you know ...

Or a good diversion, if the rumor that arose yesterday on a Russian blog has legs.

[Arrow key down to May 1, 2010 entry]
US Orders Blackout Over North Korean Torpedoing Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig

A grim report circulating in the Kremlin today written by Russia’s Northern Fleet is reporting that the United States has ordered a complete media blackout over North Korea’s torpedoing of the giant Deepwater Horizon oil platform owned by the World’s largest offshore drilling contractor Transocean that was built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., that has caused great loss of life, untold billions in economic damage to the South Korean economy, and an environmental catastrophe to the United States.

[snip]

And not just to the environmental catastrophe that is unfolding the only devastation to be wrecked upon the United States and South Korea by this North Korean attack as the economic liabilities associated with this disaster are estimated by these Russian reports to be between $500 Billion to $1.5 Trillion, and which only a declaration of this disaster being an “act of war” would free some the World’s largest corporations from bankruptcy.

[More at the link above.]

[Sarajevo]

Is it even possible for the cement to set in 20 hours, the time frame givien in the article?

[chemicalman]

I’ll put my money on a gas release before the torpedo.

[Thermalseeker]

And even though Obama has ordered military SWAT teams to protect other oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico from any further attack

I would be curious to know exactly what a SWAT team is going to do to protect an oil rig from a submarine attack 5000' below the surface? Where's the Navy? What was the status of our sonar network if indeed this was a Nork attack on the BP rig?

[airborne]

(satire)

White House press release - "We are investigaing the cause, inspecting all records and questioning all suspects. But one thing we have already determined, so don't even consider it ..."

" ...This was not a terrorist attack.(unless Dick Cheney did it!)"

(satire)

[Vinnie]

Had me thinking this was plausible, until I read this.

This “impossible dilemma” facing Obama is indeed real as the decision he is faced with is either to allow the continuation of this massive oil leak catastrophe to continue for months, or immediately stop it by the only known and proven means possible, the detonation of a thermonuclear device........

That does not sound close to plausible to me.

[Thermalseeker]

Is it even possible for the cement to set in 20 hours, the time frame givien in the article?

Back when I was a roving cellular telecom engineer I supervised the construction of over 5000 cell towers all over the USA and in other parts of the world. It was typical to allow the tower caisson(s) to cure for at least 21 days before test plugs taken from the same concrete pour were compressed to the point of failure to check the strength of the concrete before we would stack the tower. They may be using a different type of concrete here, though.

[TomGuy]

Not much news on the SWAT team, but apparently it is in the works.

MORT KONDRAKE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ROLL CALL:

But he's [Obama] doing the right thing. He's sending hands down there, SWAT teams and all the rest, to make sure that other oil rigs are safe.

from FoxNews Special Report w/ Bret Baier: All-Star Panel on Massive Gulf Oil Spill , Friday, April 30, 2010.

==

MSM mention of SWAT involvement seems to be relegated to the blogs.

==

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post lists the various governmental agencies involved in his article, Oil spill: The government's response

[snip] ... Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Energy and Climate Change Policy Assistant Carol Browner and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco plan to visit the Gulf Coast region Friday to oversee federal efforts. [snip]

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT:
The department deployed SWAT teams from the Minerals Management Service to inspect 30 drilling rigs operating in the deepwater sections of the Gulf of Mexico. [snip]

[Bean Counter]

[2harddrive]

As a Jewess in the US, I believe the gulf oil platform was sunk by a North Korean Stealth Torpedo, the 2nd test of the same type that they used to take out the South Korean Navy ship last month.