Posted on 05/13/2010 2:23:41 AM PDT by valkyry1
BP engineers tried to activate a huge piece of underwater safety equipment but failed because the device had been so altered that diagrams BP got from the equipment's owner didn't match the supposedly failsafe device's configuration
The oil well also failed at least one critical pressure test on the day that gas surged up the drill pipe and set the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig aflame, killing 11 and setting off a spill that has spewed 210,000 gallons of crude into the gulf every day for three weeks, according to BP documents provided to congressional investigators.
Who ordered the alterations in the blowout preventer, the 500,000 pound mass of gears and hydraulic valves that sits atop an underwater well and is intended to snap the pipe if disaster threatens
Transocean, the owner of the blowout preventer and of the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig, said any alterations would have come at BP's instigation; BP, which owns the well and hired Transocean to drill it, said it had never sought the changes.
the changes prevented BP's from activating a "variable bore ram" intended to close tight around the pipe and seal it.
"When they investigated why their attempts failed to activate the bore ram," Stupak said of BP engineers, "they learned that the device had been modified. A useless test ram - not the variable bore ram - had been connected to the socket that was supposed to activate the variable bore ram."
Stupak said BP officials told subcommittee investigators that "after the accident, they asked Transocean for drawings of the blowout preventer."
"Because of the modifications, the drawings they received didn't match the structure on the ocean floor," Stupak said. "BP said they wasted many hours figuring this out."
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
Maybe BP should have spent less on the green ads.
Wonder if a crew change immediatly preceeded the blowout?
I have a engineer friend in the industry who thinks when it all comes out they’ll find that the well was talking to them but no one heard until it was to late.
Yep. Stupid operators in a hurry. Human error no doubt. 11 dead because of a dumb ass.
These sort of things always come down to a series of events leading to the catastrophe. Either way I would not want to be anyone who was working that rig or managing it right about now.
This is the type of thing what happens when people do drugs while on the job.
Well, if the oil industry is anything like the electric power industry, then they have "dumbed down" just about every aspect of every technical job by making written procedures that MUST be followed for almost every conceivable circumstance. The unfortunate side effect of that is that people with true knowledge and decision-making ability are disappearing, and being replaced by obedient drones who have no clue why they're doing what they're doing, but are instead "just following the procedure".
The administration brings in a Nobel laureat physicst?
Some how the “Nobel” label does not instill confidence. Did not Al Gore receive one of those for his big fraud?
—
“Chu and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar met Wednesday with BP engineers and executives at BP’s Houston headquarters for a round of briefings that began at 6 a.m. At least some of the scientists, who include the director of Energy Department’s Sandia National Labs, were present for the meetings.”
“Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics...”
Yes, people who can think for themselves and have broad knowledge and skills are rare. And that generally costs money. Most companies want to find a way to cut that kind of costs. Also the scale of the companies has become so large as to make it very difficult to effectively use the key people on the important tasks.
well they have people from Sandia National Labs on it to that’s good.
I dont know if that’s true or not for the oil patch, but for a project such as this one they should have had only the top shelf people out there.
to=so
“Transocean, the owner of the blowout preventer and of the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig, said any alterations would have come at BP’s instigation; BP, which owns the well and hired Transocean to drill it, said it had never sought the changes.”
Who did it? Crime, Inc. (obama, chicago climate exchange, etc.) infiltrates and sabotages with this “alteration” to create this crisis and further the cause. Timing is curious.
There’s a little rule in submarines that you deliver the new drawings BEFORE the mod.
All these rigs have a Sat-link which means there’s computers at the home office, probably Houston in this case, that monitor everything that happens on the rig, at least right up until the explosion. They would have records of the “kick” and everything the drillers were doing. Why is that information not out yet?
Chu is am Obozo political ally.
And yes, Sandia Labs has some capable engineers. My father-in-law worked closely with some of them for 40 years.
The problem with National Labratories is they are by nature “political”. Today, science is not as much about discovery as it is about “funding”.
An unfortunate condition.
//A useless test ram - not the variable bore ram - had been connected to the socket that was supposed to activate the variable bore ram//
That’s one part that kills me in this article.
He said that any alteration to the blowout preventer would have required both BP and MMS approval.
That's what I would expect. All this finger-pointing is needless. Both companies were at fault if a safety device as complex as this was modified without detailed safety reviews. Both companies should have had the latest drawings. Both companies should have inspected the equipment before it was sent to the sea floor. Having a "test ram" in place instead of the ram that was supposed to be there is inexcusable.
1. BP appears to be claiming that some of the rams weren't in the BOP cavity where BP thought they were.
2. Trying to close the wrong ram caused a problem which either delayed or prevented kick control.
3. BP must have had their head in the sand or elsewhere when all of the testing of the stack went on during drilling.
4. Transocean hasn't sounded off on this excuse.
5. Moving rams from one cavity to another isn't something done in secret.
6. No one has mentioned trying to close one of the annular preventers.
7. I've not heard mention of a diverter system which would have directed the gas to the leeward side of the rig.
8. If a "gas bubble" suddenly appeared at the surface there must have been a lot of people asleep at the switch and alarm system not working.
9. Maybe some day we'll have a believable story about what happened.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.