Posted on 05/26/2010 5:07:31 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
KENNER, La.—More details emerged Wednesday about a disagreement between employees of rig operator Transocean Ltd. and oil giant BP PLC over how to begin shutting down the well just hours before it exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last month.
Testimony on Wednesday about the disagreement, in a hearing held by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service, which jointly regulate offshore drilling, was likely to bring increased scrutiny to the decisions BP made aboard the rig the day of the explosion, April 20.
There was also likely to be more focus on whether Transocean should have done more to ensure proper procedures were carried out.
Douglas H. Brown, Transocean's chief mechanic on the Deepwater Horizon rig, said key representatives from both companies had a "skirmish" during an 11 a.m. meeting on April 20. Less than 11 hours later, the well had a blowout, an uncontrolled release of oil and gas, killing 11 workers.
Mr. Brown said Transocean's crew leaders—including the rig operator's top manager, Jimmy W. Harrell—strongly objected to a decision by BP's top representative, or "company man," over how to start removing heavy drilling fluid and replacing it with lighter seawater from a riser pipe connected to the well head. Such pipes act as conduits between the rig and the wellhead at the ocean floor, and carry drilling fluid in and out of the well.
Removing heavy drilling fluid prior to temporarily sealing up a well and abandoning it is normal, but questions have emerged about whether the crew started the process without taking other precautionary measures against gas rising into the pipe.
It wasn't clear what Mr. Harrell objected to specifically about BP's instructions, but the rig's primary driller, Dewey Revette, and tool pusher, Miles Randall Ezell, both of Transocean, also disagreed with BP, Mr. Brown said.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Interesting post on the oildrum.com
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6493
With appropriate caveats:
BP contracted Schlumberger (SLB) to run the Cement Bond Log (CBL) test that was the final test on the plug that was skipped. The people testifying have been very coy about mentioning this, and you’ll see why.
SLB is an extremely highly regarded (and incredibly expensive) service company. They place a high standard on safety and train their workers to shut down unsafe operations.
SLB gets out to the Deepwater Horizon to run the CBL, and they find the well still kicking heavily, which it should not be that late in the operation. SLB orders the “company man” (BP’s man on the scene that runs the operation) to dump kill fluid down the well and shut-in the well. The company man refuses. SLB in the very next sentence asks for a helo to take all SLB personel back to shore. The company man says there are no more helo’s scheduled for the rest of the week (translation: you’re here to do a job, now do it). SLB gets on the horn to shore, calls SLB’s corporate HQ, and gets a helo flown out there at SLB’s expense and takes all SLB personel to shore.
6 hours later, the platform explodes.
Pick your jaw up off the floor now. No CBL was run after the pressure tests because the contractor high-tailed it out of there. If this story is true, the company man (who survived) should go to jail for 11 counts of negligent homicide.
6 posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 6:44:02 PM by ScreamingFist
The mythical exchange between the BP company man and RIG and / or SLB personnel was supposed to have taken place during an 11 AM meeting. SLB says that their crew left the rig at 11.
This is obviously referencing the argument that was previously reported in the Wall Street Journal where everyone was kicked out of the room except for the primary participants. With the result that the decision was made by BP - after coordinating with and receiving approval from the government oversight agency - to remove the driller’s mud before placing the concrete plug that would have sealed the casing.
BP Spill Biggest Energy Insurance Loss in 20 Years (Update1)
Piper Alpha was in 1988.
SLB says their crew left on a regularly-scheduled helo at 11 AM that morning.
Brown said Transocean's crew leaders—including the rig operator's top manager, Jimmy W. Harrell—strongly objected to a decision by BP's top representative, or "company man"...
"The company man was basically saying, 'This is how it's gonna be,' " said Mr. Brown, who didn't recall the name of the BP representative in question.
Mr. Harrell "pretty much grumbled in his manner, 'I guess that is what we have those pinchers for,' " Mr. Brown testified. He said it was a reference to the shear rams on the drilling operation's blowout preventer, which are supposed to sever the main pipe in case of a disaster.
The blowout preventer failed to stop gas from rising to the surface, causing the explosion, BP has said.
Donald Vidrine, listed on Transocean's documents as BP's "company man" on April 20, couldn't be reached. Mr. Vidrine was supposed to testify Thursday but dropped out, citing an undisclosed medical issue... Another top BP official who was scheduled to testify Thursday, Robert Kaluza, declined to do so, asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
It sounds to me like Donald Vidrine is the BP version of NASA's Lawrence Mulloy.
Thanks! Got a link? You’ve got to sift a lot of chaff to find the truth.
Now we're getting somewhere. That is not an innocent man.
Well, as in war, bad leaders make disasters. There was nothing wrong with the WWII Italian army that a good officer corps could not have fixed.
I don’t beat up on the big capitalist oil company about it.
That job is reserved for liberals, democrats, anti-capitalists.
Profit is a wonderful thing, providing wealth, jobs, goods and services.
I think that’s worth repeating
I’ll look for it, may have been on The Oil Drum.
Your scenario sounds plausible. I concur with your verdict.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64J0GS20100520
"The wireline standby crew departed the Horizon at about 11 a.m. on one of BP's regularly scheduled helicopter flights, Schlumberger said."
BP had the leaking pipeline in Alaska if I remember correctly. Skimping on maintenance?
If that story is true, no wonder the BP suit couldn’t testify due to medical issues.
Same bunch having the party while the explosion took place I bet.
The oil boys though play by a different set of rules.
“It wasn’t clear what Mr. Harrell objected to specifically about BP’s instructions, but the rig’s primary driller, Dewey Revette, and tool pusher, Miles Randall Ezell, both of Transocean, also disagreed with BP...”
That’s the nice thing about land rigs - you can walk off them. Although the two summers I worked on a rig the company man knew who the bosses were.
I heard stories that accidently dropping a 48-inch pipe wrench off the drill deck as the company man walked by below was helpful in putting him in his place too.
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