'The same trail of tears led to Katrina ... and it's showing up here again,' professor Robert Bea says. They failed to address what's called "residual risk," those things that planners don't think will fail. And in doing so, they underestimated the risk in ways very similar to the engineers who designed New Orleans' levee system, Bea said.We learn more about Halliburton's role in applying cement plugs that were supposed to secure the well as it was capped off.
"BP fell into the same damn trap, and they were not engineering; they were 'imagineering,'" he said. "Risk analysis continues to mislead us because we're only looking at part of the risk."
A transcript Bea collected from a witness says the companies were confident enough they had a lucrative oil source that they decided to convert from an exploratory well to a more permanent production well, a process that requires them to apply a metal and cement casing to the well hole. They chose casing 7 inches in diameter, Bea said, and that was further sealed with cement pumped in by Halliburton. Bea said his sources reported that Halliburton was using a "new" kind of cement for the seal, something the scientist said made him say, "Uh oh."
We also learn that the BP, Transocean, and Halliburton officials in charge of the operation debated whether or not they should remove the "drilling mud" from the column before the final cement plug had been set.
One of Bea's witness transcripts describes in detail a heated debate among BP, Halliburton and Transocean officials as they are about to add the final cement plug to the well, 5,000 below the wellhead and 10,000 feet below the rig. They argued about whether to set the plug with drilling mud still in the well and riser, or if they should do it with lighter sea water there instead.
As The Times-Picayune reported last week, Bea's witness claims the decision was made to displace the heavy mud barrier with water before the final plug was set in order to finish the job more quickly
There's the obligatory irony.
Among those tossed asunder by the explosions were BP officials who were on the rig to celebrate a seven-year spotless safety record.
And, of course, there is the description of the ominous gas surges highlighted in the headline which caused work on the well to shut down temporarily a few weeks before the final incident.
"As the job unfolded, ... the workers did have intermittent trouble with pockets of natural gas," said one statement sent to Bea. "Highly flammable, the gas was forcing its way up the drill pipes. This was something BP had not foreseen as a serious problem, declaring a year earlier that gas was likely to pose only a 'negligible' risk. The government warned the company that gas buildup was a real concern and that BP should 'exercise caution'".
A second statement said, "At one point during the previous several weeks, so much of it came belching up to the surface that a loudspeaker announcement called for a halt to all 'hot work', meaning any smoking, welding, cooking or any other use of fire. Smaller belches, or 'kicks,' had stalled work as the job was winding down" in the days before the accident. Bea said he could not name the people who gave the statements or reveal their positions.
When I read this part, I thought it reminded me of something I saw in a movie once. So I sent a text message to Menckles who I thought could appreciate the reference better than would most people.
The front page story is about the investigation into the causes. It has statements from the rig workers who describe fiery gas belches that preceded the explosion and shut down work for a time.
That should have told them there was a Belrock down there.
Now I'm just a guy who happens to have seen a lot of movies. But Menckles is a full-fledged dice-carrying D&D gamer geek so I knew she would run with this. A few minutes later I got the following response.
Btw, if you're going to make this joke on the blog, it's spelled, "Balrog." Also, mithril was what the dwarves wanted to come back to Moria for, after it had been plundered by the orcs.
"Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is beyond price; for little is left above ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it. The lodes lead away north towards Caradhras, and down to darkness. The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as mithril was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane. (The Balrog) Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it."
What a fucking tree-hugger that Tolkein was, huh? Drill! Drill! Drill
I guess I could have said something like "BTW if you're gonna make that joke, it's spelled Drill, Baby, Drill!" but I figured I'd already lost this round anyway. So today's big Ha Ha cred goes to Menckles, I guess.
In the scene linked here*, Gandalf prepares to lay protective boom ahead of the approaching menace. Maybe he should have used more hair.
*God forbid we be allowed to embed the work of the masters here
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