Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout Disaster Threatens Gulf of Mexico

[C. Flower]

I've read that with fascination Chuck Mc. Without doubting you, is there any way you can post some references to the reports it's based on ?

Essentially, was the whole thing human error, exacerbated by human error, like the Chernobyl incident ?

Was the depth of what was going on, and the difficulties of monitoring and inspection, anything to do with the mismanagement you describe ?

[Chuck Mc]

I've read that with fascination Chuck Mc. Without doubting you, is there any way you can post some references to the reports it's based on ?

Essentially, was the whole thing human error, exacerbated by human error, like the Chernobyl incident ?

Was the depth of what was going on, and the difficulties of monitoring and inspection, anything to do with the mismanagement you describe ?

This disaster was obviously the product of one stupid human error after another on the part of everyone having anything to do with that well!

I've had gas wells try that on me several times recently. My crews are trained to recognize the signs, however, and are repeatedly trained and empowered from the supervisors all the way down to the new hire guys to speak up when something's not right, and they do! You don't have a blow out on a well 18,000' deep without warning signs it's coming! A small flow, an increase in pressure, your displacements aren't right, your mud weight changes... When you have migrating gas like this, an observant crew would have picked up on it long before it became an emergency. The gas bubble would have been allowed to expand before it reached surface and the well would have been killed without spilling a single drop. Obviously that didn't happen.

The BOP stack is monitored and function tested once a week at least by law, and more often if the supervisor thinks it's necessary. They undergo regular pressure tests up to their maximum working pressure. The depth really plays no part in that except that the whole process is slower.

I can't speak specifically about this blow out because I wasn't there personally, but I did watch the news reports with interest. I saw the BOP up close from the camera on the ROV, like everyone else in the world, heard their explanations, saw the water being pumped into the drill ship, listened to how they planned to cap the well. Noticed that there was no oil slick forming after 3 days.

It's been my experience that Halliburton is rarely ever wrong on their cementing plan. But sometimes they are. The plans should have been drawn up independently by the WSM and compared to Halliburton's with an eye open for possible well control issues. Only when everyone agreed to the plan should it have been pumped. I don't think that happened here.

What bothered me the most, however, was the obvious lack of knowledge and leadership as the blow out unfolded. Why wasn't this well readied for a soft shut in, and the crew drilled on it? Why wasn't someone put in charge of monitoring the well bore pressure after the cement was pumped? Standard operating procedures were ignored completely. I suspect there were other dynamics at play here that nullified any attempt to monitor.

[Chuck Mc]

And furthermore!!!!

There's an organization called the International Association of Drilling Contractors here who set the standards for well control training. You are tested for competency after a course of study. All of the major oil companies, BP included, require that you hold the certificate before they use you. Some well control schools are more comprehensive than others.

It hasn't escaped my attention that oftentimes employees of the major oil companies are given the answers to the tests. Then when they actually come across a well control issue they are clueless.

I think there should be a required license issued by a government body independent of oil company cronyism.

[Chuck Mc]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...oil-spill.html

This guy was responsible for the bad decisions they say.

[Chuck Mc]

That isn't looking good. This was a couple of days ago. As usual, there was a lot of blandly optimistic talk. They tried to use a deep sea robot to cap it on the sea bed, but without success it seems.

So I ask you, where's the oil slick? I see flames and boats sinking the drill ship, but no slick. The BOP must be closed.

[Count Bobulescu]

Economist, this week, has a review of the various books that have been written on the Deepwater Horizion Oil Spill. And guess what, my guy, Joel Achenbach, of WaPo comes out close to the top of the pile. You can see a short interview with him here. Gloating………

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/envir...ook_04-21.html


http://www.economist.com/node/185840...ry_id=18584064

[Sam Lord]

The story may not be over yet.

There may be a seep.



http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...412109550.html

[Count Bobulescu]

Gummint says it was human error, failure to adhere to best practices etc. Blame all round.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...y.html?hpid=z2

[Count Bobulescu]

Trial set to begin Monday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...y.html?hpid=z2

With settlement talks grinding on, the trial of BP over its culpability for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico looks set to begin Monday in a New Orleans courtroom — and two nearby overflow rooms — packed with lawyers, public relations specialists, reporters and other observers.
District Court Judge Carl Barbier, a former plaintiffs’ lawyer in maritime accident cases, has allotted a total of 6 hours 40 minutes for 11 opening statements from private plaintiffs, the Justice Department, Gulf Coast states and corporate defendants. More than 300 depositions and 72 million pages of documents have been produced, according to one lawyer involved in the case. Legal fees alone will eventually run well into the billions of dollars.

[Kid Ryder]

This report from Al Jazeera News tells of the health impact on U.S. Gulf Coast residents and Deepwater Horizon emergency workers/volunteers - thousands are suffering chronic sicknesses that they attribute to the oil spill. BP and the U.S. govt. are leaving these people 'twisting in the wind', to quote a lawyer working on some cases taken by people affected by the spill. Many class action suits against BP are being joined, mostly taken by people who chose not to settle with BP in the aftermath of the incident, and the outcome of these over the next year or two will show how little 'corporate social responsibility' is regarded by Big Oil.

Ocean Springs, Mississippi - Not long after BP's oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, 2010, Lorrie Williams knew something was very wrong with her health.

She began getting frequent headaches, was experiencing shortness of breath, her eyes were burning, and she was having nightmares.

Williams, her husband Bud Waltman, and their ten-year-old son, Noah, have all tested positive for having chemicals in their blood that are also present in BP's oil. Her 25-year-old son has been to the emergency room twice for haemorrhaging blood from his nose, and several of their neighbours also have experienced ongoing respiratory problems.


Lorrie Williams and Bud Waltman have both tested positive for having chemicals present in BP's oil in their bloodstreams
[Erika Blumenfeld/Al Jazeera]

Her two-year-old granddaughter has been sick constantly.

Williams and Waltman, both crab fishers, live less than a kilometre from the Mississippi coast, and blame the illnesses in their family on exposure to chemicals from BP's oil and the dispersants used to sink it.

"I'm really sick, and I fear that I'm not gonna be here in a year," Williams told Al Jazeera. "There are days that I can't get up, and I can't eat. And I can't do the things that I used to do, with Bubba, and my grandbaby. And Noah. And then I worry about my mom. And I have nothing to leave them but a crab boat and some crab pots."

Williams stated that she and her family are not alone.

"There are now dozens, if not hundreds, of other Gulf Coast residents and former oil clean up workers that have also tested positive for having BP's chemicals in their blood," she added. "And for many of us, the problem seems to be getting worse with time."

BP blamed for ongoing health problems - Al Jazeera News

[Count Bobulescu]

Don't delete your texts.

NPR BREAKING NEWS:

Government Files First Criminal Charges In BP Oil Spill

Former BP engineer Kurt Mix has been charged with obstruction of justice for deleting text messages after the Gulf of Mexico spill in 2010, NPR has learned.

More at NPR.org:
http://n.npr.org/NPRI/jN304544076_1289903_1289902_Z.htm

[Kid Ryder]

There's a continuing legacy of the Deepwater Horizon blowout disaster - tar balls and other hydrocarbon debris being washed up on Gulf Coast beaches in the wake of tropical storms and hurricanes. This report deals with the beaches fouled in the wake of Isaac, the latest tropical storm/hurricane to hit the southern coast of the United States. Will BP ever pay enough for their screw-up? Maybe not, but there are communities and wildlife still paying for BP's mistakes...

BP Oil Spill, Tar Balls Churned up by Isaac - Common Dreams

[Count Bobulescu]

Europe Alert
from The Wall Street Journal


BP is close to a deal to sell some of its Gulf of Mexico offshore oil fields for around $7 billion to Plains Exploration & Production, as BP continues to divest itself of assets to pay for the 2010 oil spill in the region.


A deal could be announced as early as this week, although negotiations are continuing and talks could still fall apart.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...lertEuropenews

[DCon]

BP pleading guilty to crimes

BP BP.LN -0.08% PLC has agreed to plead guilty to felony charges and pay $4.5 billion in penalties, including $1.26 billion in criminal fines, stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers in 2010 and unleashed the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The energy company said Thursday it will plead guilty to 11 felony counts of "misconduct or neglect of ships officers" relating to the deaths aboard the drilling rig, and to one felony count of obstruction of Congress stemming from information it gave about the rate that oil was leaking from the well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...555122104.html

[Count Bobulescu]

BP, company officials charged with manslaughter

Attorney General Eric Holder announced indictments against BP and the two highest-ranking supervisors on the Deepwater Horizon rig. The pair were charged with 23 counts of criminal wrongdoing, including manslaughter, connected to the deaths of the 11 people killed in the 2010 explosion.

Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bp-to-pay-billions-in-gulf-oil-spill-settlement/2012/11/15/ba0b783a-2f2e-11e2-9f50-0308e1e75445_story.html