Oil Companies Turn on BP at Congressional Hearing

Yahoo News ^ | 6/15/2010 | Yahoo News

[Dallas59]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Executives from other major oil companies turned on BP Plc and defended their own drilling practices during a U.S. congressional hearing on Tuesday as they sought to stave off new government regulations in the wake of BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Summoned before the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on energy and environment, executives of the biggest oil companies moved to isolate BP while asserting that the accident could have been prevented.

Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson told the panel it is crucial to find out what caused the offshore rig to explode in April, creating the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

[Gene Eric]

>> Exxon Chair: it is crucial to find out what caused the offshore rig to explode

>> Sacajaweau: ...And my gut still says sabotage.

>> FreePaul: Why don’t you outline how that was accomplished.

Is the “burb theory” still alive?

Was all underwater damage caused by objects at sea level?

[mo]

“And my gut still says sabotage....”

Yeah...sabotaged by stupidity, greed, sloppiness and self-delusion at a management level.

[Star Traveler]

From the referenced article ...

• Back in 2007, a BP pipeline spilled 200,000 gallons of crude into the Alaskan wilderness. They got hit with $16 million in fines.

• "The Justice Department required the company to pay approximately $353 million as part of an agreement to defer prosecution on charges that the company conspired to manipulate the propane gas market."

• In two separate disasters prior to Deepwater Horizon, 30 BP workers were killed and more than 200 have been seriously injured.

• "According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio  and Texas  have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by OSHA"

• OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.

It definitely shows "how they operate" ... :-)

[Star Traveler]

LOL ... figures ... from the Obama Administration ... :-)

[FreePaul]

By all accounts the only explosion(s) came a couple of hours after the blowout began. Explosives in the well bore without the assistance of rig personnel would be quite an accomplishment. I still want to know how the sabotage theory works.

The problem seems to have begun with bad completion practices. Since BP was the company responsible for those decisions they would have had to sabotage their own well. Not likely.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Divide and conquer. If Obama can so easily get his private sector opponents to turn on each other, we’re toast!

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

I still want to know how the sabotage theory works.

LOL ... I can give you the "tin-foil hat theory" put forth by a few FReepers here ... :-)

A North Korean ship left a Cuban harbor just before the BP disaster, and they had a North Korean mini-sub on board. They drastically changed course at one point along their course out from Cuba and that brought them close to the BP rig. They launched the mini-sub and it shot a torpedo into the works.

The idea was that the leader of North Korea wanted to force Obama to use a nuke to close up the gusher, and thus, embarrass Obama and also prove to the world that countries having nukes were necessary for things other than going to war.

So, it was all planned by North Korean as a win-win situation for them, no matter how it turned out ...

And if you believe that ... well ... what can I say except ROTFLMAO ... :-)

[shibumi]

There are ~no~ coincidences.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

Yeah...sabotaged by stupidity, greed, sloppiness and self-delusion at a management level.

Yeah exactly! And you can see the proof of how BP operates already by the following ...

From the referenced article, in Post #4 ...

• Back in 2007, a BP pipeline spilled 200,000 gallons of crude into the Alaskan wilderness. They got hit with $16 million in fines.

• "The Justice Department required the company to pay approximately $353 million as part of an agreement to defer prosecution on charges that the company conspired to manipulate the propane gas market."

• In two separate disasters prior to Deepwater Horizon, 30 BP workers were killed and more than 200 have been seriously injured.

• "According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio  and Texas  have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by OSHA"
• OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.

It definitely shows "how they operate" ... :-)

[gitmogrunt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Refinery_explosion

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

There are ~no~ coincidences.

Yeah, you're right... there are no coincidences ... BP has a "track record" ... hoo-boy!

From the referenced article, in Post #4 ...

• Back in 2007, a BP pipeline spilled 200,000 gallons of crude into the Alaskan wilderness. They got hit with $16 million in fines.

• "The Justice Department required the company to pay approximately $353 million as part of an agreement to defer prosecution on charges that the company conspired to manipulate the propane gas market."

• In two separate disasters prior to Deepwater Horizon, 30 BP workers were killed and more than 200 have been seriously injured.

• "According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio  and Texas  have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by OSHA"
• OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.

It definitely shows "how they operate" ... :-)

[Lazamataz]

[Raider Sam]

They are all hanging together, they’re just not letting BP hang with.

Its not really a circular firing squad.

[numberonepal]

The problem seems to have begun with bad completion practices.

This was an accident. A greed motivated accident yes, but an accident nonetheless. This is a very deep well penetrating far below the crust of the Earth. We have little to no idea what's down there and BP just had to find out and get their hands on some of that (possibly endless supply) abiotic oil. No one ever dreamed that bore pressures could reach 20-70K PSI. The equipment was never designed for these pressures, nor does the technology exists to manage flow at these pressures.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

They are all hanging together, they’re just not letting BP hang with.

I don't blame those other oil companies for "hanging together" among themselves -- against BP...

Considering this about BP -- "in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio  and Texas  have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by OSHA" -- it's no wonder that the other oil companies are pissed at BP for their behavior. It gives them all a bad name, and I'm sure they don't like it.

[Raider Sam]

Oh, no I totally agree. I was just correcting the previous post that made it seem like a free for all.

Other majors dont like BP and know about their safety failings.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

Oh, no I totally agree. I was just correcting the previous post that made it seem like a free for all.

Yeah... and you're right about that ... :-)

[FreePaul]

Is the “burb theory” still alive? Was all underwater damage caused by objects at sea level?

Not familiar with the "burb theory."

The underwater damage was caused when the riser with drill pipe inside collapsed during the rig sinking. There didn't appear to be any damage to the BOP stack caused by explosives.

[FreePaul]

No one ever dreamed that bore pressures could reach 20-70K PSI.

Where do you come up with those numbers?

[YankeeReb]

It definitely shows "how they operate" ... :-)

I'm not giving BP a pass by any means, but the coal mine cave in in W. Va. had nothing to do with them, the gas explosion in PA wasn't BP either. Did Soetoro somehow cause the accidents? No, but he's done everything to exploit the crisis, and nothing to limit the damage, quite the opposite. BP has a track record but so does this Chicago mob running the country. The main point I was trying to make was that what was considered "Tin foil hat" material a year ago, isn't dismissed so quickly today.