BP Testifies on Blowout Preventer (points finger at Transocean)

[maddezmom]

Source: NYT

August 25, 2010
HOUSTON — New details emerged Wednesday about the frantic efforts to control the runaway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico in the weeks after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

That testimony could help investigators explain a lingering mystery: why the equipment did not shear the well closed as designed.

The equipment, known as a blowout preventer or BOP, is designed to suppress rising hydrocarbons inside the well. It was one of many devices that malfunctioned as engineers tried for months to control the well.

The official, Harry Thierens, the vice president for drilling and completions, testified before a panel of Coast Guard and Interior Department officials that it was the responsibility of Transocean, the rig’s owner, to maintain and configure the equipment.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/us/26hearings.html

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Alteration to Safety Device Hurt BP Disaster Relief

By BEN CASSELMAN
HOUSTON—Undocumented changes to a vital piece of safety equipment slowed BP PLC's efforts to shut down its blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP official told federal investigators Wednesday.

After spending days trying to use underwater robots to trigger the blowout preventer—a huge stack of valves on the sea floor designed to seal the well in an emergency—workers discovered that it had been modified, Harry Thierens, a BP vice president overseeing the effort, testified in hearings here.

The controls that the robots were trying to use that were supposed to close the valves were actually connected to a testing device that couldn't shut off the well, he said.

"There was a lot of emotion in the room at that time," Mr. Thierens said about the discovery. "I was quite astonished that this could have happened."

more:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451860612581680.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. So which one of the other corporations involved in this disaster will TransOcean point to?

[Trajan]

2. What this means is (among other things ..)

They never actually verified the 'controls' after the installation was complete ....

They never performed a 'visual' ....

Even if they cant activate the BOP for testing, they should have at least inspected the 'controls' ...

Fucking idiots ....

[Kringle]

3. keep in mind, BP killed 11 people . nt

[Nihil]

4. No, you are wrong (again)

> it was the responsibility of Transocean, the rig’s owner, to maintain
> and configure the equipment.

The matter is still being investigated.

Most people are intelligent enough to learn from articles like the OP.

Maybe your approach is why you have had so many reincarnations at this site?

[Kringle]

6. the story may be true, but it is not complete

when BP decided to replace
the drilling mud with seawater,

the only control they had on the well
were devices that they {BP}, did not for sure,
know would work

[wordpix]

5. one good thing about this---as they point fingers, the true story is coming out

So far, they're ALL looking negligent, and that includes the fed gov for approving permits written by the foxes in the henhouse.