Starting to look like the buck stops at BP

Yep. Every article seems to be the same thing now. BP will not dispute that fact about the plug not being put in. Instead they just want to blame it all on the BOP not working.

Good job.
Is there alot to be gained by BP taking that route of how they handled the plug? Is it just a time saver or is it alot of money involved.

quote:

---

This account describes a failure to place a cement plug within the well. The plug is designed to prevent gas from escaping up the pipe to the surface.

---

This is a different account of what the guy who was on the Mark Levin show had to say.

quote:

---

The legitimacy of that guy has always been in question.

---

Hadn't heard anyone question him. I had also heard from another source that the plug was set.

This will be very interesting. If BP wanted to proceed with this approach, Why did the MMS approve it? Why didn't anyone on the rig question it?

quote:

---

Why did the MMS approve it?

---

Good question.

quote:

---

Why didn't anyone on the rig question it?

---

Maybe because BP had MMS approval and told them to do it that way? Engineers from BP issue the orders and the consultants implement.

If BP or Transocean wanted me to do something that seemed like it was dangerous, there is no way that I would put people or equipment in danger. I just don't believe that there were that many people that were on the Horizon that were involved with a plan to perform an operation that was out of the ordinary without questioning it.

From the quote below from a WWL news article it sure sounds Transocean is trying to say that the fact the BOP didn't work is irrelevant. It also sound like Haliburton and BP are getting ready to throw Transocean under the bus.

LINK

quote:

---

A top executive of BP PLC, which leased the rig for exploratory drilling, focused on a critical safety device that was supposed to shut off oil flow on the ocean floor in the event of a well blowout but "failed to operate."

"That was to be the fail-safe in case of an accident," Lamar McKay, chairman of BP America, said, pointedly noting that the 450-ton blowout protector -- as well as the rig itself -- was owned by Transocean Ltd.

Of the 126 people on the Deepwater Horizon rig when it was engulfed in flames, only seven were BP employees, said McKay.

But Transocean CEO Steven Newman was seeking to put responsibility on BP.

"Offshore oil and gas production projects begin and end with the operator, in this case BP," said Newman, according to the prepared remarks. His testimony says it was BP that prepared the drilling plan and was in charge when the drilling concluded and the crew was preparing to cap the well 5,000 feet beneath the sea.

To blame the blowout protecters "simply makes no sense" because there is "no reason to believe" that the equipment was not operational, Newman argues.

Newman also cites a third company, Halliburton Inc., which as a subcontractor was encasing the well pipe in cement before plugging it -- a process dictated by BP's drilling plan.

A Halliburton executive, Tim Probert, planned to assert that the company's work was finished "in accordance with the requirements" set out by BP and with accepted industry practices. He says pressure tests were conducted after the cementing work was finished to demonstrate well integrity

---

.

quote:

---

Dont see how Transocean can be blamed for the BOPs not working

---

I do. They owned it.

quote:

---

Their crew tested the bops just like every bop is tested and the bops passed the tests.

---

The BOP is a fail safe device. I don't know how a BOP is tested. But a test is not real life circumstances.

quote:

---

What else were they supposed to do to ensure that the rams would work?

---

I don't know. I am confident that after the investigation has been completed, we will all see new regulations on how things are tested.

A quick analogy. If you get a cab to drive you home from the airport. You are giving the driver directions to your house. He stops along the way at multiple stop lights. You tell him that your house is just on the other side of the hill. He gets over the top of the hill and your car is parked in the street. He can't stop because his brakes failed. He hits your car parked in the street.

Is it your fault that the cab driver hit your car?

quote:

---

there is no way that I would put people or equipment in danger.

---

If they told you they checked out the pressure and got approval from above, yes you would do what they said. That's why they are in charge, it is thier call, not the rig hands call that are on the floor.

they can yell all they want about the presence of a surface cement plug, but i'll eat my hat if that played any part in ultimate disaster.

and yes, the buck stops w/ BP. and yes, the MMS approved the procedure. The well control guidelines state that you must always have a minimum of 2 methods of well control in place -- in this case the well control equipment consisted of the cemented and tested production casing, a bridge plug of some type (probably an EZSV, and the BOP stack. i'm not saying that no one did anything wrong, but i am saying that the spirit and letter of the law was being followed, no matter how much of a show the lawmakers want to make.

ETA -- i'm speculating about the stage of abandonment they were in. i've seen accounts where they ran in the hole w/ a bridge plug, but have not seen where it was set or tested. in any case, you could not be displacing the riser to SW if the bridge plug wasn't set. i have heard through colleagues that there was a deeper abandonment cement plug in place at the time this happened, but i cannot confirm that.

if the casing hanger was unseated due to reservoir pressure acting on it (behind the casing and under the hanger), you could have had as many cement plugs as you wanted inside the casing and it would not have helped.