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WSJ: BP Decisions Set Stage for Disaster
Wall Street Journal ^ | MAY 27, 2010 | BEN CASSELMAN And RUSSELL GOLD

Posted on 05/27/2010 7:39:46 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

It was a difficult drill from the start.

API Well No. 60-817-44169 threw up many challenges to its principal owner, BP PLC, swallowing expensive drilling fluid and burping out dangerous gas. Those woes put the Gulf of Mexico project over budget and behind schedule by April 20, the day the well erupted, destroying the Deepwater Horizon rig and killing 11 men.

[OilCrisisLogo]

Government investigators have yet to announce conclusions about what went wrong that day. The final step in the causation chain, industry engineers have said in interviews, was most likely the failure of a crucial seal at the top of the well or a cement plug at the bottom.

But neither scenario explains the whole story. A Wall Street Journal investigation provides the most complete account so far of the fateful decisions that preceded the blast. BP made choices over the course of the project that rendered this well more vulnerable to the blowout, which unleashed a spew of crude oil that engineers are struggling to stanch.

BP, for instance, cut short a procedure involving drilling fluid that is designed to detect gas in the well and remove it before it becomes a problem, according to documents belonging to BP and to the drilling rig's owner and operator, Transocean Ltd.

BP also skipped a quality test of the cement around the pipe—another buffer against gas—despite what BP now says were signs of problems with the cement job and despite a warning from cement contractor Halliburton Co.

Once gas was rising, the design and procedures BP had chosen for the well likely gave this perilous gas an easier path up and out, say well-control experts.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bp; deephorz; deepwaterhorizon; energy; obamaskatrina; offshore; oil; oilspill

1 posted on 05/27/2010 7:39:46 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

This whole thing reminds me of an acquaintance that, on a motorcycle ride, swung wide on a corner and plowed into the side of a boat being towed by a pickup going the opposite direction. He busted the hull and his motorcycle ripped one of the axles right off the trailer.

And he was hurt too.

The guy in the truck stopped and was very concerned about making sure the guy was all right. We were all trying to get an ambulance, protect his injured hand and arm, etc.

That was then. A month or two later he was in court being sued by the boat owner. Everything in its time.

This spill has passed the “lets all work together to get this stopped” phase. Now it gets ugly.


2 posted on 05/27/2010 7:45:43 AM PDT by RobRoy (The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: RobRoy
BP is gonna need a fleet of lawyers based on what I am reading in this....

And where were the FED's...MMMS was gathering royalties I guess....

3 posted on 05/27/2010 7:48:42 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Interesting - also check out the comments at the WSJ site. I thought somebody’s analogy to the Challenger disaster was pretty good - a series of questionable decisions that snowballed into a disaster.


4 posted on 05/27/2010 7:49:03 AM PDT by rockvillem
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To: RobRoy

Are you saying the scenario you describe was wrong somehow? If a guy on a motorcycle destroyed my property, I’d sue too. I’d also make sure the person was alive and ok when the accident happened. Being concerned about the condition of a human being at the time of the accident doesn’t make the liability go away.


5 posted on 05/27/2010 7:49:45 AM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf aInd dumb to the chariot wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: Bigun; HoustonCurmudgeon; razorback-bert; TWfromTEXAS; lentulusgracchus; CedarDave; stevie_d_64

ping


6 posted on 05/27/2010 8:00:01 AM PDT by razorback-bert (Some days it's not worth chewing through the straps.)
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To: rockvillem
Perfect analogy, good people who know how to do things right are almost always run over by Bad People forcing the circus on even w/o net.
7 posted on 05/27/2010 8:06:02 AM PDT by norraad ("What light!">Blues Brothers)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I’ve had a real bad opinion of BP since they screwed all us propane users with their price fixing deal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102302255.html


8 posted on 05/27/2010 8:22:32 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Thanks. VERY informative article. Sounds like BP had put “Larry the Cable Guy” in charge on the rig....GIT’R DONE!


9 posted on 05/27/2010 8:41:16 AM PDT by Ronald_Magnus
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
BP made choices over the course of the project that rendered this well more vulnerable to the blowout, which unleashed a spew of crude oil that engineers are struggling to stanch.

Oh my! How could President Obama have let them get away with such a thing

10 posted on 05/27/2010 9:02:51 AM PDT by Tribune7 (It is immoral to claim the tea parties to be racist)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Diasters of this magnitude are usually the sum of many wrong decisions/bad choices.

B.P. has a history of cutting corners to the detriment of themselves, workers and now the environment. If they can ever recover from this episode, I would have them on a very short leash and an independent review of all but the most insignificant of jobs. If the old saying,"Penny-wise and pound foolish" applied to any one, it's them.

11 posted on 05/27/2010 9:15:02 AM PDT by muleskinner
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To: autumnraine

>>Are you saying the scenario you describe was wrong somehow?<<

No, I am saying I agree with Ecclesiastes: For everything its own time. At the accident scene it is time to help the injured rider (for this spill, it is time to plug the dang thing up and do what we can to protect the environment).

But after the rider is taken to the hospital and on the mend, it’s time to discuss who is at fault and how everything will be made right (for the spill, after the hole is plugged and the environmental damage is contained, it is time to discuss cause, responsibility and legal ramifications)

It will get very, VERY ugly.


12 posted on 05/27/2010 10:01:12 AM PDT by RobRoy (The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I feel sort of bad for BP. As someone who has worked in the offshore subsea oil industry and when you got a 1 million dollar a day rig sitting there and you are way over budget(Macondo had at least 1 sidetrack)on your well costs the management rides you to get done and get off the well.

In this industry, time is money like no where else. BP has drilled hundreds of wells without incident but this time it was different.


13 posted on 05/27/2010 11:29:37 AM PDT by oilfieldtrash
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To: oilfieldtrash

It is big Money....high pressure for sure!


14 posted on 05/27/2010 1:32:37 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: autumnraine

I would want him healthy and able to pay


15 posted on 05/29/2010 8:18:47 AM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom sarc ;))
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