East, thanks for the clarification. It’s amazing that in one hole they can drill the bit, then surround it in a cement casing that allows drilling mud to flow upwards to the surface.
The casing is steel, they then grout it to the bed rock, all while have the drill hole filled with mud and the bit in place. It’s a pretty wild scenerio, but clearly BP f’d up the job. Sounds like a series of bad calls to cut corners. Maybe if the MMS peeps had actually carried out their inspections instead of taking “favors” and surfing porn, BP would have been shutdown.