Yes, but was it "grossly negligent"?

I mean, sure, we know it was all these other things.

The damning testimony from industry veteran Alan Huffman came during the third day of a civil trial over the 2010 disaster off Louisiana. It heightened the pressure on BP, with billions of dollars at stake from the outcome of the trial.

“Drilling ahead in this environment was not only unsafe, it violated every standard I know in how wells are drilled in deep waters,” said Huffman, chief technology officer of SIGMA³ Integrated Reservoir Solutions.

Huffman, who has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and has previously worked for Exxon and Conoco, said BP in drilling the well repeatedly violated the safe drilling margin, in some cases drilling with no margin at all.

“That is not what a prudent operator does,” Huffman said.

Huffman said there were several kicks, or evidence of gas or oil intrusion, in the well during the drilling of the well. The work should have stopped at that point, he said.  But BP decided to continue to drill ahead when it reached 18,220 feet, endangering the lives of the workers on the Deepwater Horizon rig above.

“I would have been very concerned for everyone on that rig,” he said.

Actually that article leaves out the most damning statement from Huffman.

Huffman: BP's actions were "unsafe and dangerous...They were egregious beyond anything I've seen in my career." #bptrial
— George Talbot (@georgetalbot) February 27, 2013

Still.. couldn't he have worked in the word, "gross"? Somewhere between the "unsafe" and "egregious" maybe?

The Fuel Fix article does, however, include a link to Tony Hayward's video testimony which was also presented today. No, he does not do the Harlem Shake.



After lunch, there will be a cross-examination of Huffman and, I think, more video testimony from Spill Cam.