re: BP spill and some other questions...

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It's WW & no he got a settlement.

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Oh I know him and his brother John too. WW knew how to get the most out of his rig and his men.


I was actually asking about Mike W. Hadn't talked to him in a while. Probably need to give him a call.

It was a MODU which is essentially a drilling platform that floats on giant pontoons. The pontoons are flooded to lower the center of gravity of the platform and position the rig for operation. There are numerous positioning devices on the MODU that fire independently to keep the platform positioned in accordance with GPS coordinates.

Dynamic positioning systems use thrusters that hold the rigs in position. Its pretty impressive. I've watched the captains of those rigs rotate the rig around the hole to get the sun out of the driller's eyes. Technology is crazy. I work with down hole tools and a lot of the engineering involved there, but on a few occasions get to see the surface equipment in action and it really does blow me away. We've got rigs pulling 1.2 million lbs of pipe stying in position over an 8.5" hole that is in up to 10,000' of water. Insane.

Ultimately the cause ties back to a poor cementing job. After a section of hole is drilled, the run pipe or casing in to hold the hole open and they pump cement between the hole and the pipe to cement it in place. If the pipe isn't centralized and the fluid properties of the cement arent right, channeling (strips where cement doesn't cover the casing) occurs. That provides an avenue for pressure to flow from zone to zone when it isnt supposed to. If they plan to drill on and think that pressure is isolated, bad things can happen. There are several other safety features to stop a kick back (uncontrolled pressure surge), but all of them were improperly used or failed. Ultimately gas got to surface and ignited. Rest is history.

I would say most probably can't tell a big difference in the fishing now compared to before. I know I can't. That summer was horrible though. I had just graduated and was in prime fishing area with nothing to do. The long term affects have yet to be seen, but for now it's back to "normal".

It' was a perfect storm, so to speak. Poor cementing, BOP failure, poor practice regarding pressure testing, chaotic evac...

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It' was a perfect storm, so to speak.

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Yep, one thing led to the next and so on.

Thanks, KG6! That explains a lot. Got some questions answered in this thread thanks to yall on the OB. Somebody needs to pass this information on to the news media!

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It has been but that doesn't mean they'll write the truth

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That's why I asked the questions here, NF. The OB will always come through, and you can depend on it.

Toolpusher. what you need to know is that he is ultimate authority on that rig, the captain of the ship. The lives of all those men are always in his hand. He calls the shots. Too much gas, too dangerous, bad weather when to leave rig etc. (With consultation form his mud engineers, company man, private weather guy, Crane operator, Driller, etc.

All you need to understand about Deepwater Horizon disaster is this. The toolpusher decided to was too dangerous to keep drilling and wanted a break to review everything. He stopped. BP overrules him. (This really can not even fricking happen and went to feds MMA and they persuaded him threaten him and we started again and people fricking died.

It was revealed soon after BP had bribed those guys with Saints box tickets etc.

I used to work offshore and I have never ever heard of a tool pusher being over ruled on a safety issue. I doubt it has ever happened. They may not bring you back etc, but no way any other oil company would do that.

In a few years, I will tell you the rest of the story. (When my kids are gone, Obama (Bp's little bitch) is gone, and I dont give a shite anymore.) Maybe....

Many many years since I was offshore but Toolpusher called the shot in my day.

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In a few years, I will tell you the rest of the story. (When my kids are gone, Obama (Bp's little bitch) is gone, and I dont give a shite anymore.) Maybe....

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This sounds like something my granddaddy would say about the coal mine cave in's and explosions he lived through. If you want the truth about what really happened, ask the men who were there and not the company, not the government, and certainly not the news media. I did read that BP had already paid out 43 billion before they were ordered to pay another 19 billion. Besides cleanup efforts, I have no idea where the money went. When men die, whether it's in a coal mine or offshore rig, no amount of money can mitigate that.