There is indication that there were disputes over procedures on the Deepwater Horizon hours before the explosion. The disagreement was between employees of rig operator Transocean Ltd. and oil giant BP PLC. Deepwater Horizon drilling crews had fought a multitude of troubles from this well for months. One thing was the alarming gas pressures coming out of this well.
Key representatives from both companies had a heated argument in an 11 a.m. meeting on April 20th, less than 11 hours before the platform exploded. It ultimately ended with a BP official deciding to remove heavy drilling fluid from the well and replacing it with lighter-weight sea water that was unable to prevent gas from surging to the surface and exploding. This was the fatal mistake that set the chain of events to follow.
Employees and experts testified that in the hours before the explosion, they witnessed a power struggle over the lighter sea water decision. It was typically the kind of argument among the different parties that lease and run complicated offshore drilling operations, but this time it had deadly consequences.
One employee who worked for the rig owner, Transocean, was so mad after the fight he warned they’d be relying on the rig’s blowout preventer if they proceeded the way BP wanted.
“He pretty much grumbled, ‘Well, I guess that’s what we have those pinchers for,’” the rig’s chief mechanic, Doug Brown, said of Jimmy Harrell, the top Transocean official on the rig. “Pinchers” was likely Harrell’s reference to the shear rams in the blowout preventers, the final means of stopping an explosion.
There was also an internal report in March outlining the problems with this well. Around the same time that BP CEO sold 1/3 of his BP stock.
I have not heard much (actually - nothing) of the 11 men that were killed. I wonder if the driller and tool pusher that were arguing with the company man were among the dead?
Leaving it to the blow out preventer (BOP) is like the following to me. The driver of the car (the driller) is driving slow and safe. His passenger (the company man) says “drive faster!”.
The driver says “We’re on a mountain road, it is icy, they didn’t put studs on my worn-out tires, the brakes are bad, and the seat belts are trashed. I’m taking it easy.”
And the company man says “I’m the boss - step on it. Anyway - that’s what the airbags are for!”
If you are relying on your BOP (or your airbags) - you are an idiot.