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BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Oil Well Before Blast
Topic Started: May 26 2010, 09:55 PM (381 Views)
dumblonde
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Quote:
 
BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Oil Well Before Blast
By IAN URBINA
Published: May 26, 2010


WASHINGTON — Several days before the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, BP officials chose, partly for financial reasons, to use a type of casing for the well that the company knew was the riskier of two options, according to a BP document.

The concern with the method BP chose, the document said, was that if the cement around the casing pipe did not seal properly, gases could leak all the way to the wellhead, where only a single seal would serve as a barrier.

Using a different type of casing would have provided two barriers, according to the document, which was provided to The New York Times by a Congressional investigator.

Workers from the rig and company officials have said that hours before the explosion, gases were leaking through the cement, which had been set in place by the oil services contractor, Halliburton. Investigators have said these leaks were the likely cause of the explosion.

The approach taken by the company was described as the “best economic case” in the BP document.


Quote:
 
Douglas H. Brown, the chief mechanic for the Deepwater Horizon, testified Wednesday that he witnessed a “skirmish” on the rig between a BP well site leader and crew members employed by Transocean, the rig’s owner, the morning of the blast.

Mr. Brown said the disagreement followed BP’s decision to replace heavy drilling fluid with lighter saltwater before the well was sealed with a final cement plug.

“Well, this is how it’s going to be,” the BP official said, according to Mr. Brown.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/us/27rig.html

This shows vividly what happens when we lift the regulatory hand from business. For more than a quarter of a century we've stripped regulation from the banks, the oil companies, our food and drug suppliers and we wonder why this kind of thing happens.
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Manna Pro
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Manna Pro
Exactly
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Hello again
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Yea, like I would trust the government to drill oil. Heck, they are still cleaning up the mess of the federal government from the 40's to the 80's ....the US government is the biggest toxic polluter in the country.
Edited by Hello again, May 26 2010, 11:45 PM.
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NoorAnisa
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Could Secret Saudi Spill Hold Fix for Gulf Slick?
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/could-cleanup-fix-for-gulf-oil-spill-lie-in-secret-saudi-disaster/19476863

NO mistakes, its intended because it is part of the plan.

If they wanted it clean it would be. If they wanted it safe it would be.

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Bigtoe
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Bps not willing to lose the well- even if they have to kill the Gulf.
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dumblonde
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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2919914320100530

Quote:
 
BP ditches 'top kill,' moves to cap option

By Kristen Hays

HOUSTON, May 29 (Reuters) - BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) gave up on its failed "top kill" effort to smother a Gulf of Mexico oil leak on Saturday and focused on a plan to cap a piece of equipment at the wellhead and corral spewing oil and gas.

"We do think it will capture the majority of the oil if it works. We can't guarantee that," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said of the next step at a daily briefing on Saturday with the U.S. Coast Guard. He said it could take four days or longer to show results.


Quote:
 
BP's plan is to saw off a bent pipe on top of a lower marine riser package, or LMRP, that sits atop a failed blowout preventer at the wellhead.

That pipe was connected to the rig, and the two leaks are spewing from it.

The cap with a grommet seal will cover the opening left when the pipe is sawed off. Captured oil and gas would be channeled through a pipe that connects the cap to a drillship, where it would be stored.
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LadyJazzer
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And if that doesn't work, they have this REALLY BIG piece of chewing gum.....
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Science Chic
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Or a nuke...
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NoorAnisa
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Just the fact that its being approached like it has never happened before, as if there are no products, experts or solutions...
What did they do in California? They got the mushroom man to help. Now there is talk of a microbe... and bets are on that the dispersant already used experimentally if not with intention to foil success... will kill the microbes that are known to do the work on oil... not on dispersed oil.

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