Halliburton caught rigging the oil rigs to explode

[jshowell]

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/seafan/3886

Halliburton completed cementing of well 20 hours prior to explosion
Posted by seafan in General Discussion
Fri Apr 30th 2010, 03:56 PM
Halliburton confirms the cementing job on the Gulf rig:

April 30, 2010

-- Halliburton performed a variety of services on the rig, including cementing, and had four employees stationed on the rig at the time of the accident. Halliburton's employees returned to shore safely, due, in part, to the brave rescue efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard and other organizations.

-- Halliburton had completed the cementing of the final production casing string in accordance with the well design approximately 20 hours prior to the incident. The cement slurry design was consistent with that utilized in other similar applications.

-- In accordance with accepted industry practice approved by our customers, tests demonstrating the integrity of the production casing string were completed.

-- At the time of the incident, well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug which would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well, consistent with normal oilfield practice.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575214593564769072.html

Drilling Process Attracts Scrutiny in Rig Explosion

An oil-drilling procedure called cementing is coming under scrutiny as a possible cause of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that has led to one of the biggest oil spills in U.S. history, drilling experts said Thursday.

The process is supposed to prevent oil and natural gas from escaping by filling gaps between the outside of the well pipe and the inside of the hole bored into the ocean floor. Cement, pumped down the well from the drilling rig, is also used to plug wells after they have been abandoned or when drilling has finished but production hasn't begun.

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, workers had finished pumping cement to fill the space between the pipe and the sides of the hole and had begun temporarily plugging the well with cement; it isn't known whether they had completed the plugging process before the blast.

Regulators have previously identified problems in the cementing process as a leading cause of well blowouts, in which oil and natural gas surge out of a well with explosive force. When cement develops cracks or doesn't set properly, oil and gas can escape, ultimately flowing out of control. The gas is highly combustible and prone to ignite, as it appears to have done aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased by BP PLC, the British oil giant.

Concerns about the cementing process—and about whether rigs have enough safeguards to prevent blowouts—raise questions about whether the industry can safely drill in deep water and whether regulators are up to the task of monitoring them.

The scrutiny on cementing will focus attention on Halliburton Co., the oilfield-services firm that was handling the cementing process on the rig, which burned and sank last week. The disaster, which killed 11, has left a gusher of oil streaming into the Gulf from a mile under the surface.

Federal officials declined to comment on their investigation, and Halliburton didn't respond to questions from The Wall Street Journal.

According to Transocean Ltd., the operator of the drilling rig, Halliburton had finished cementing the 18,000-foot well shortly before the explosion. Houston-based Halliburton is the largest company in the global cementing business, which accounted for $1.7 billion, or about 11%, of the company's revenue in 2009, according to consultant Spears & Associates.

Growing worries about potential lawsuits and other costs of the oil spill in the wake of its rapid spread led investors to clobber stocks of companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon well Thursday.

Halliburton fell 5.3% to $31.60 and Cameron International Corp., which built the blowout-prevention equipment that didn't stop the explosion, dropped 13% to $38.70, both at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

The timing of the cementing in relation to the blast—and the procedure's history of causing problems—point to it as a possible culprit in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, experts said.

"The initial likely cause of gas coming to the surface had something to do with the cement," said Robert MacKenzie, managing director of energy and natural resources at FBR Capital Markets and a former cementing engineer in the oil industry.

Several other drilling experts agreed, though they cautioned that the investigation into what went wrong at the Deepwater Horizon site is still in its preliminary stages.

The problem could have been a faulty cement plug at the bottom of the well, he said. Another possibility would be that cement between the pipe and well walls didn't harden properly and allowed gas to pass through it.

A 2007 study by three U.S. Minerals Management Service officials found that cementing was a factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period. That was the single largest factor, ahead of equipment failure and pipe failure.

The Halliburton cementers would have sought approval for their plans—the type of cement and how much would be used—from a BP official on board the rig before carrying out their job. Scott Dean, a BP spokesman, said it was premature to speculate on the role cement might have played in the disaster.

Halliburton also was the cementer on a well that suffered a big blowout last August in the Timor Sea, off Australia. The rig there caught fire and a well leaked tens of thousands of barrels of oil over 10 weeks before it was shut down. The investigation is continuing; Halliburton declined to comment on it.

Elmer P. Danenberger, who had recently retired as head of regulatory affairs for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, told the Australian commission looking into the blowout that a poor cement job was probably the reason oil and natural gas gushed out of control.

Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com and Ben Casselman at ben.casselman@wsj.com

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[Dig]

how come there is not an amber alert for dick cheney and 24/7 nancy grace psyops chasing down leads?

wtf?

haliburton/swat/green-nazis/nle10/bilderberg/cfr/bp queen bitch...

HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE IS NEEDED FOR PEOPLE TO WAKE UP?

[Brady84]

I will need to see much more substantial evidence than this before I believe they rigged it to happen on purpose.   I work in the drilling business and we never intend on making wells blowout.  Bad cement happens, it's part of the business.  Safety has gotten much better in recent times but drilling will always be a high risk, dangerous task.  Also, unlike other industries in America we actually have to make a profit to survive, you will never see the gov't bail us out, this incident could cost Halliburton billions, making it happen on purpose would be VERY bad business.

[Dig]

I will need to see much more substantial evidence than this before I believe they rigged it to happen on purpose.   I work in the drilling business and we never intend on making wells blowout.  Bad cement happens, it's part of the business.  Safety has gotten much better in recent times but drilling will always be a high risk, dangerous task.  Also, unlike other industries in America we actually have to make a profit to survive, you will never see the gov't bail us out, this incident could cost Halliburton billions, making it happen on purpose would be VERY bad business.

you work in the drilling business?

can you mention other similar occuraces?

perhaps one maybe?

for the record, the queen bitch that owns BP is subsidized over $10 Billion a year in corporate welfare from the American taxpayers and has used the US soldier to rape Iraq of her resources to drive up profits. She and BP are also big players in the carbon tax scam where she will hope to do away with all roughnecks once and for all.

I appreciate the wonderful talking points to divert a global elite crime against humanity to middle class workers who are being raped by the queen bitches puppets at goldman sachs. Perhaps the hannity forum may be a better avenue for this omnicom/renden/lincoln narrative.

[ekimdrachir]

Too early to tell. Could be any, all or something else entirely. I wouldn't eliminate halliburton from the list of suspects yet, but we haven't been told the whole story, and I need more info about the North Korean torpedo. Is that just EU propaghanda to get ppl frenzied? What's going on!

[worcesteradam]

we need someone to get hold of that cement rubble to check for explosives

[Dig]

all the usual suspects again:

***Carlyle, Kissinger, SAIC and Halliburton: A 9/11 Convergence***
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=169133.0

This may be another bona fide Carlyle/Bilderberg event

[Brady84]

Yes, I work for a small privately owned drill bit company.  Before my current position I worked for Smith International who was recently purchased by Schlumberger, a giant French multi national corporation.  Never at any time during my time there did I suspect anything mischievous.  Rig blowouts happen, Williams burned 2 rigs down within 6 months in western Colorado back in 2008 while I was working out there. Land rig blowouts are far smaller profile than offshore so they generally don't make the news.  There have been many similar events in history.  Here is the #1 google link for offshore blowouts http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/i-blowout.htm. Haliburton and Schlumberger are the biggest service companies in the world, statistically one of them would have been on this well.

I won't say that there isn't something more going on, just that I would like to see more before getting on board.  The executive class of energy industry are no doubt part of the greater plan but 99% of the people in the business are working Americans and I promise the engineer in charge on that rig did not dick up the cement job on purpose, willingly.

[turtle]

Misleading title of thread. Now, exactly WHO supposedly 'caught' Halliburton rigging oil rigs to explode ? The Keystone Cops ? If a legitimate law enforcement agency 'caught' them, why no indictment ? Why no lead story on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ? Why no arrests and TV perp walks into the courtroom from jail ?
IF someone deliberately destroyed an oil rig and killed 11 workers, I want to see all of the above.
If you want anyone to believe your posts, you need to STEP UP YOUR GAME and not make such LAME threads as this one. Next time, ask your seventh-grade English teacher for some tips on composition and form.

[citizenx]

Now, exactly WHO supposedly 'caught' Halliburton rigging oil rigs to explode ? The Keystone Cops ? If a legitimate law enforcement agency 'caught' them, why no indictment ? Why no lead story on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ? Why no arrests and TV perp walks into the courtroom from jail ?
IF someone deliberately destroyed an oil rig and killed 11 workers, I want to see all of the above.
If you want anyone to believe your posts, you need to STEP UP YOUR GAME and not make such LAME threads as this one.

You really are kind new to this game, aren't you?  If Halliburton did it, why no stories in the MSM?

Are you kidding.  BTW, Huffington post is one step removed from MSM, IMO.  This story is going public.  Screw those bastards -- BP (crown),Cheney, Carlyle, Bushes et. al.

[Optimus]

BP fought oil rig safety measures
http://www.cdnn.info/news/eco/e100430.html
Powered by CDNN - Cyber Diver News Network

April 30, 2010

GULF OF MEXICO — BP, the company that owned the Louisiana oil rig that exploded last week, spent years battling federal regulators over how many layers of safeguards would be needed to prevent a deepwater well from this type of accident.

One area of immediate concern, industry experts said, was the lack of a remote system that would have allowed workers to clamp shut Deepwater Horizon's wellhead so it would not continue to gush oil. The rig is now spilling 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

In a letter sent last year to the Department of the Interior, BP objected to what it called "extensive, prescriptive regulations" proposed in new rules to toughen safety standards. "We believe industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs…continue to be very successful."

That was one in a series of clashes between the industry and federal regulators that began during the Clinton administration. In 2000, the federal agency that oversaw oil rig safety issued a safety alert that called added layers of backup "an essential component of a deepwater drilling system." The agency said operators were expected to have multiple layers of protection to prevent a spill.

But according to aides to Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who has followed offshore drilling issues for years, the industry aggressively lobbied against an additional layer of protection known as an "acoustic system," saying it was too costly. In a March 2003 report, the agency reversed course, and said that layer of protection was no longer needed.

"There was a big debate under the Bush administration whether or not to require additional oil drilling safeguards but [federal regulators] decided not to require any additional mandatory safeguards, believing the industry would be motivated to do it themselves," Carl Pope, Chairman of the Sierra Club told ABC News.

A second area of focus emerging Friday involved the cement casing that was supposed to seal the well and prevent gaps from opening between the outside of the well pipe and the inside of the hole drilled into the sea floor. If cement is not poured properly, oil and natural gas can escape – a cause of more than a dozen previous well blowouts in the Gulf.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman Friday sent a letter to Halliburton, the company responsible for pouring the cement seal, asking company executives to brief committee investigators on conditions at the rig, and preserve all documents relating to their work on the sea floor.

Elmer Danenberger, an expert on offshore drilling who retired from the U.S. Department of the Interior in January, told reporters he is worried that "lack of attention" during the pouring of the cement could be to blame.

"With these cementing operations it's just a matter of not being attentive enough," he said. "What you want is a closed system. You want the cemented pipe totally sealing the well bore. If you don't have that, you have problems."

Because the well us under more than a mile of water, it may be some time before investigators have more clarity on what exactly went wrong. But Brent Coon, a lawyer who sued BP over a previous deadly oil facility explosion, said he has obtained a restraining order to prevent the company from doing anything to cover up the cause of the accident.

"BP stands apart, heads and shoulders above all the rest of them, with respect to their conduct," said Coon, who represents a 24-year-old roustabout who was working on the rig at the time of the blast. "It's like they just don't care."

BP issued a release saying it had launched its own investigation into the cause of the blast, and would cooperate with federal efforts.

"Losing 11 of our industry colleagues is a tragedy for the offshore community," said BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward in the statement. "As an industry, we must participate fully in these investigations and not rest until the causes of this tragedy are known and measures are taken to see that it never happens again."

by MATTHEW MOSK, BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ

[Optimus]

Cement job at underwater well probed as possible cause of spill
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/30/1606988/cement-job-at-underwater-well.html
By KEVIN G. HALL
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- An inadequate underwater cement job during the deepwater drilling process is emerging as a potential cause of the devastating oil spill off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

Officials haven't said what they think caused the April 20 explosion that led to the sinking two days later of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, owned by Transocean Ltd. But industry speculation points to a process where cement is used to seal cracks in the ocean floor surrounding the tubing through which crude oil flows.

Transocean operated the drilling rig under contract for British oil giant BP Plc., the largest oil producer in the U.S. portion of the gulf and a company with a spotty safety history. Transocean has said the global construction titan Halliburton had just completed "cementing" the 18,000-foot-long well around the time of the explosion.

In a statement Friday, Halliburton confirmed that it was the "cementer" hired for the job and said it had completed its job about 20 hours prior to the explosion.

"The cement slurry design was consistent with that utilized in other similar applications," the company said. It said all procedures had been "in accordance with accepted industry practice approved by our customers."

"It is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any specific causal issues," the statement said.

"We cannot get ahead of ourselves with respect to the facts of this incident," Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for Transocean in Houston, told McClatchy Newspapers.

Before conducting a complex ultra deepwater drilling operation like the one that Transocean was undertaking for BP, all the contractors meet weeks in advance to plan the smallest details. What isn't known yet is why a fairly routine operation turned deadly, with 11 rig workers killed in the initial blast that eventually sunk the Deepwater Horizon.

"I think this is not an equipment problem, I think this is a human problem. I don't know the details, but from where I'm standing they had a blowout, and a blowout is something that is a human problem," said Rene Ritter, a Canadian consultant on ultra deepwater drilling projects across the globe. A blowout is oil-drilling jargon for a sudden, uncontrolled surge of natural gas or oil from a well.

Cautioning that he has not worked with BP in the Gulf of Mexico, Ritter said it's extremely rare to have catastrophic equipment failures.

"It is somebody not paying attention to what's going on, bad planning, but a blowout is something that doesn't just happen like that - 99 percent of that is human behavior," said Ritter, who helped Brazil pioneer its deepwater drilling program.

Another potential cause for a blowout would be the failure of a hydraulic safety valve system designed to control pressure increases. The valve was made by Cameron International Corp.

If "cementing" is the cause, it could spell new troubles for Halliburton, whose work was also suspected in a well explosion that took place last August in the Timor Sea near Australia. It took 71 days to fully cap and contain that spill, according to Australia's Sunday Times. The official investigation is still ongoing, but cementing was the main area of investigation, the head of the inquiry has said.

BP's safety record in the United States is spotty. Last October, it was hit with a record $87 million workplace-safety fine for failing to take corrective steps and new violations after a 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 workers

[turtle]

Nowhere in your article posted does it say that Halliburton or anyone else was caught doing anything. Nowhere does it say that Halliburton or anyone else deliberately caused an explosion at the oil rig. Sloppy or inadequate work or accidents do not add up to 'rigging oil rigs to explode'. I stand by my post. Wishful thinking and misleading words don't stand up to even cursory examination, and if you want to be taken seriously, you have to do exacting research and print only the truth. Exaggerated claims of wrongdoing without proof only helps the guilty (whether it be Halliburton or whoever) get away with their crimes and misdeeds. Get a clue from some of the other posters here who do their homework before posting. I'm telling you this for your own good.

[Dig]

Yes, I work for a small privately owned drill bit company.  Before my current position I worked for Smith International who was recently purchased by Schlumberger, a giant French multi national corporation.  Never at any time during my time there did I suspect anything mischievous.  Rig blowouts happen, Williams burned 2 rigs down within 6 months in western Colorado back in 2008 while I was working out there. Land rig blowouts are far smaller profile than offshore so they generally don't make the news.  There have been many similar events in history.  Here is the #1 google link for offshore blowouts http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/i-blowout.htm. Haliburton and Schlumberger are the biggest service companies in the world, statistically one of them would have been on this well.

I won't say that there isn't something more going on, just that I would like to see more before getting on board.  The executive class of energy industry are no doubt part of the greater plan but 99% of the people in the business are working Americans and I promise the engineer in charge on that rig did not dick up the cement job on purpose, willingly.

i agree with everything you said, but Hallivburton execs are not the middle class or even upper class, they are the elite class and they have stolen billions from american taxpayers, they are involved with energy scams and false flag terrorism. they are not an american company and are headquartered in Dubai most likely to avoid any extradition of execs.

[Dig]

Nowhere in your article posted does it say that Halliburton or anyone else was caught doing anything. Nowhere does it say that Halliburton or anyone else deliberately caused an explosion at the oil rig. Sloppy or inadequate work or accidents do not add up to 'rigging oil rigs to explode'. I stand by my post. Wishful thinking and misleading words don't stand up to even cursory examination, and if you want to be taken seriously, you have to do exacting research and print only the truth. Exaggerated claims of wrongdoing without proof only helps the guilty (whether it be Halliburton or whoever) get away with their crimes and misdeeds. Get a clue from some of the other posters here who do their homework before posting. I'm telling you this for your own good.

HALLIBURTON EXECUTIVES LIKE DICK CHENEY ARE F*CKING EVIL INCARNATE

THEY STEAL, RAPE, AND PILLAGE ON BEHALF OF THEIR CARLYLE/BILDERBERG MASTERS

THEY WERE THE LAST ONE WITH A GUN TO BE SEEN OVER THE BODY

THE PROJECT MOCKINGBIRD MEDIA IS SO CONTROLLED THEY COULD NOT FIND A PIECE OF HAY IN A HAY STACK

THIS IS A FREE WHEELING FORUM INTERESTED IN EXAMINIG AREAS THAT THE MSM REFUSES TO LOOK

WE HAVE BEEN WRONG BEFORE AND THAT IS THE NATURE OF AN INVESTIGATIVE THREAD

IF YOU HAVE EVIDENCE THAT NLE10/HALLIBURTON/BP/CARLYLE AND PSYCHOPATH KISSINGER ARE NOT BEHIND THIS, PLEASE POST IT.

YOU SHOULD TAKE NOTHING SERIOUSLY WITHOUT DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH WHETHER IT BE THIS FORUM, NIST, EPA DOCUMENTS, OR FEMA PRESS CONFERENCES

THANKS

[Jon W]

http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=135773&page=2

Some of the post shed some light.

This is a DISASTER. They may not be able to stop it.

[Dig]

Dyncorp and Halliburton Sex Slave Scandal Won't Go Away
Halliburton, Dyncorp lobbyists stall law banning human trafficking and sex slavery
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2006/010106sexslavescandal.htm
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | January 1 2006

Almost a year after Representative Cynthia McKinney was told by Donald Rumsfeld that it was not the policy of the Bush administration to reward companies that engage in human trafficking with government contracts, the scandal continues to sweep up innocent children who are sold into a life of slavery at the behest of Halliburton subsidiaries , Dyncorp and other transnational corporations with close ties to the establishment elite.

On March 11th 2005, McKinney grilled Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers on the Dyncorp scandal.

"Mr. Secretary, I watched President Bush deliver a moving speech at the United Nations in September 2003, in which he mentioned the crisis of the sex trade. The President called for the punishment of those involved in this horrible business. But at the very moment of that speech, DynCorp was exposed for having been involved in the buying and selling of young women and children. While all of this was going on, DynCorp kept the Pentagon contract to administer the smallpox and anthrax vaccines, and is now working on a plague vaccine through the Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program. Mr. Secretary, is it [the] policy of the U.S. Government to reward companies that traffic in women and little girls?"

The response and McKinney's comeback was as follows.

Rumsfeld: "Thank you, Representative. First, the answer to your first question is, is, no, absolutely not, the policy of the United States Government is clear, unambiguous, and opposed to the activities that you described. The second question."

McKinney: "Well how do you explain the fact that DynCorp and its successor companies have received and continue to receive government contracts?"

Rumsfeld: "I would have to go and find the facts, but there are laws and rules and regulations with respect to government contracts, and there are times that corporations do things they should not do, in which case they tend to be suspended for some period; there are times then that the - under the laws and the rules and regulations for the - passed by the Congress and implemented by the Executive branch - that corporations can get off of - out of the penalty box if you will, and be permitted to engage in contracts with the government. They're generally not barred in perpetuity."

McKinney: "This contract - this company - was never in the penalty box."

Rumsfeld: "I'm advised by DR. Chu that it was not the corporation that was engaged in the activities you characterized but I'm told it was an employee of the corporation, and it was some years ago in the Balkans that that took place."

Watch the video here.

Rumsfeld's effort to shift the blame away from the hierarchy at Dyncorp and onto the Dyncorp employees was a blatant attempt to hide the fact that human trafficking and sex slavery is a practice condoned by companies like Dyncorp and Halliburton subsidiaries like KBR.

What else are we to assume in light of recent revelations cited in the Chicago Tribune that Halliburton subsidiary KBR and Dyncorp lobbyists are working in tandem with the Pentagon to stall legislation that would specifically ban trafficking in humans for forced labor and prostitution by U.S. contractors?

Three years has now elapsed since President Bush's promise to bring an end to this disgrace and the Pentagon is still yet to actually bar the practice.

And the employees themselves that are burned for blowing the whistle, like Kathryn Bolkovac who was sacked for reporting on Dyncorp officials who were involved in the Bosnian sex trade.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is one of very few representatives in high office aside from Cynthia McKinney to demand answers on this issue.

We applaud Blagojevich's eforts. The iron curtain of official denial and soft-peddling is falling down.

What has happened to the children who were sold into slavery and forced to satisfy the demands of sick pedophiles working on behalf of the US government?

Where were the investigations and convictions in other cases of establishment orchestrated child slavery and prostitution? Like the NATO officials responsible for the mushrooming of child prostitution in Kosovo?

What happened to UN officials identified as using a ship charted for 'peacekeepers' to bring young girls from Thailand to East Timor as prostitutes?

In addition, we received an E mail from a person claiming to be a Dyncorp employee stating that a high level Dyncorp official is breaking the law by accepting payment from the US government and in turn the American taxpayer by falsifying timesheets and claiming pay for hours not worked.

The contact states that this was repeatedly brought to the attention of DynCorp program managers by Dyncorp employees but they were told it was "none of their business."

It is important to stress that at the moment these are allegations and we have no proof of this other than the validity of the e mail.

The e mail is a reminder that we should always consider the fact that the vast majority of Dyncorp employees are just doing their jobs and have nothing to do with this scandal. It is a small faction at the head of the hydra that have authorized and engaged in these horrors.

We have a government that says it doesn't advocate torture and yet tries to block a law that would end torture. We have a government that repeatedly burns lower level minions to wash its hands of every major scandal that encompasses policies directly administered by the government itself, as in the case of Abu Ghraib and the Dyncorp sex scandal.

A government that covers-up for those who force children into prostitution and slavery is a clear danger to our very way of life.

We must demand answers and finally put an end to a process that exploits and wreaks terror on the lives of the most innocent and vulnerable members of society, whether they be in the Balkans, East Timor or here at home.

Our own children.

[phosphene]

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/whistleblower-predicted-gulf-oil-disaster-2

Whistleblower who predicted Gulf oil disaster in 2008 says more are on the way
By karoli Saturday May 01, 2010 7:00am

Jason Leopold has the story over at Truthout. Another day, another story of a huge corporate behemoth running amok and roughshod over the most basic safety regulations and protocols.

In 2008, an employee of BP hired to oversee and maintain required document databases relating to regulatory safety requirements raised concerns about a related BP Gulf project, Atlantis.

    The whistleblower, whose name has been withheld at the person's request because the whistleblower still works in the oil industry and fears retaliation, first raised concerns about safety issues related to BP Atlantis, the world's largest and deepest semi-submersible oil and natural gas platform, located about 200 miles south of New Orleans, in November 2008. Atlantis, which began production in October 2007, has the capacity to produce about 8.4 million gallons of oil and 180 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

    It was then that the whistleblower, who was hired to oversee the company's databases housing documents related to its Atlantis project, discovered that the drilling platform had been operating without a majority of the engineer-approved documents it needed to run safely, leaving the platform vulnerable to a catastrophic disaster that would far surpass the massive oil spill that began last week following a deadly explosion on a BP-operated drilling rig.

The specifics are pretty chilling. Regulations require extensive preparation and analysis of potential hazards with signoffs by qualified engineers at each step. Part of the analysis is a detailed drawing of the project's piping and process flows. BP's were incomplete, which prompted a member of the BP team to alert BP officials to the risk that they could be assumed to be complete, leading to a complete failure of the system. According to the Truthout article, 85 percent of the drawings did not receive engineer approval.

Eighty-five percent. Stunning. And there's more.

    Even worse, 95 percent of Atlantis' subsea welding records did not receive final approval, calling into question the integrity of thousands of crucial welds on subsea components that, if they were to rupture, could result in an oil spill 30 times worse than the one that occurred after the explosion on Deepwater Horizon last week.

The rest of the story is at Truthout. Go read it. It's chilling all on its own, but when read in the larger context of the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch disaster, Goldman Sachs revelations, Wall Street meltdowns and SEC shenanigans, the abject failure of conservative "small government, no regulation" philosophy is truly on parade for everyone to see.

Late-night editorial comment:

The Masseys, Halliburtons, BPs, and Wall Streeters do it because they expect to do it and get away with it. They do it because for 30 years we've listened to the drumbeat of a cadence: Profits over all. As the cadence quickened, the media joined the parade, morphing from objective observer to drum major. The beat grew louder. With each decibel increase, their arrogance and power grew stronger. In 30 years, the John Birch society has transformed from pariah to mainstream. How far will we let them go before we get out in the streets and "take our country back"?

We're not going to undo all of this in a year, two years or four years. It took them thirty years of sustained, over-the-top underhanded rhetoric and behavior to get to this point. I believe the 2010 elections are as much about whether we're willing to arm-wrestle corporate interests for control of this country as they are about any specific candidate or issue. They are about where our hearts are, and we can't afford to turn away or disengage. Not now.

Some contend Democrats aren't any better than Republicans, or liberals than conservatives. Whatever fits. Either way, I disagree. Under a Bush administration, this whistleblower's story would not have seen the light of day or Truthout's site. He went through standard channels first. Under Bush, he'd have been crushed in those channels before he ever had the chance to reach out to Jason. Democrats aren't perfect and neither is Obama. But on their very worst day, they're still better by far than what we can expect with conservatives in control.

Change isn't overnight. They spent 30 years bringing down everything progressives built in the 20th century. We're seeing the fruits of their labor on land, sea, and in the air. Conservatives have brought this country to the brink of ruin. When they can't win by the rules, they write their own. It's time for that to change.

This is where I live. If you were to look at the full-size image, you'd see two offshore oil derricks on the horizon. I don't know who runs them or manages them, but I know I've kicked and screamed for 2 years since Bush lifted the moratorium on drilling off the coast of California (yes, it was Bush, not Obama) about the danger to our coastline.

This is what's at risk here, along with newly revived groups of brown pelicans, migrating whales, and endangered plovers. It could just as easily happen here, and it isn't worth the risk. I believe this so strongly that I gave away my car and decided to walk or ride a bike everywhere I could over a year ago. I don't regret it, and I will fight back as long as I'm breathing for the right to see this coastline this way, to see pelicans dive into clear water and most of all, oil companies' power to diminish.

[phosphene]

http://www.truthout.org/whistlelower-bps-other-offshore-drilling-project-gulf-vulnerable-catastrophe59027

Whistleblower: BP Risks More Massive Catastrophes in Gulf

Friday 30 April 2010

by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Report

A former contractor who worked for British Petroleum (BP) claims the oil conglomerate broke federal laws and violated its own internal procedures by failing to maintain crucial safety and engineering documents related to one of the firms other deepwater production projects in the Gulf of Mexico, according to internal emails and other documents obtained by Truthout.

The whistleblower, whose name has been withheld at the person's request because the whistleblower still works in the oil industry and fears retaliation, first raised concerns about safety issues related to BP Atlantis, the world's largest and deepest semi-submersible oil and natural gas platform, located about 200 miles south of New Orleans, in November 2008. Atlantis, which began production in October 2007, has the capacity to produce about 8.4 million gallons of oil and 180 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

It was then that the whistleblower, who was hired to oversee the company's databases that housed documents related to its Atlantis project, discovered that the drilling platform had been operating without a majority of the engineer-approved documents it needed to run safely, leaving the platform vulnerable to a catastrophic disaster that would far surpass the massive oil spill that began last week following a deadly explosion on a BP-operated drilling rig.

BP's own internal communications show that company officials were made aware of the issue and feared that the document shortfalls related to Atlantis "could lead to catastrophic operator error" and must be addressed.

Indeed, according to an August 15, 2008, email sent to BP officials by Barry Duff, a member of BP's Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Atlantis Subsea Team, the Piping and Instrument Diagrams (P&IDs) for the Atlantis subsea components "are not complete" and "there are hundreds if not thousands of subsea documents that have never been finalized, yet the facilities have been" up and running. P&IDs documents form the foundation of a hazards analysis BP is required to undertake as part of its Safety and Environmental Management Program related to its offshore drilling operations. P&IDs drawings provide the schematic details of the project's piping and process flows, valves and safety critical instrumentation.

"The risk in turning over drawings that are not complete are: 1) The Operator will assume the drawings are accurate and up to date," the email said. "This could lead to catastrophic Operator errors due to their assuming the drawing is correct," said Duff's email to BP officials Bill Naseman and William Broman. "Turning over incomplete drawings to the Operator for their use is a fundamental violation of basic Document control, [internal standards] and Process Safety Regulations."

BP did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story. Despite the claims that BP did not maintain proper documentation related to Atlantis, federal regulators authorized an expansion of the drilling project.

Last May, Mike Sawyer, a Texas-based engineer who works for Apex Safety Consultants, voluntarily agreed to evaluate BP's Atlantis subsea document database and the whistleblower's allegations regarding BP's engineering document shortfall related to Atlantis. Sawyer concluded that of the 2,108 P&IDs BP maintained that dealt specifically with the subsea components of its Atlantis production project, 85 percent did not receive engineer approval.

Even worse, 95 percent of Atlantis' subsea welding records did not receive final approval, calling into question the integrity of thousands of crucial welds on subsea components that, if they were to rupture, could result in an oil spill 30 times worse than the one that occurred after the explosion on Deepwater Horizon last week.

In a report Sawyer prepared after his review, he said BP's "widespread pattern of unapproved design, testing and inspection documentation on the Atlantis subsea project creates a risk of a catastrophic incident threatening the [Gulf of Mexico] deep-water environment and the safety of platform workers." Moreover, "the extent of documentation discrepancies creates a substantial risk that a catastrophic event could occur at any time."

"The absence of a complete set of final, up-to-date, 'as built' engineering documents, including appropriate engineering approval, introduces substantial risk of large scale damage to the deep water [Gulf of Mexico] environment and harm to workers, primarily because analyses and inspections based on unverified design documents cannot accurately assess risk or suitability for service," Sawyer's report said. He added, "there is no valid engineering justification for these violations and short cuts."

Sawyer explained that the documents in question - welding records, inspections and safety shutdown logic materials - are "extremely critical to the safe operation of the platform and its subsea components." He said the safety shutdown logic drawings on Atlantis, a complex computerized system that, during emergencies, is supposed to send a signal to automatically shut down the flow of oil, were listed as "requiring update."

"BP's recklessness in regards to the Atlantis project is a clear example of how the company has a pattern of failing to comply with minimum industry standards for worker and environmental safety," Sawyer said.

The oil spill blanketing roughly 4,000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed eleven workers, was exacerbated, preliminary reports suggest, by the failure of a blowout preventer to shut off the flow of oil on the drilling rig and the lack of a backup safety measure, known as a remote control acoustic shut off switch, to operate the blowout preventer.

Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent a letter Thursday to BP Chairman and President Lamar McKay seeking documents related to inspections on Deepwater Horizon conducted this year and BP's policy on using acoustic shut off switches in the Gulf of Mexico.

The circumstances behind the spill are now the subject of a federal investigation.

Profits Before Safety

Whether it's the multiple oil spills that emanated from BP's Prudhoe Bay operations in Alaska's North Slope or the March 2005 explosion at the company's Texas refinery that killed 15 employees and injured 170 people, BP has consistently put profits ahead of safety.

On October 25, 2007, BP pled guilty to a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act and paid a $20 million fine related to two separate oil spills that occurred in the North Slope in March and August of 2006, the result of a severely corroded pipeline and a safety valve failure. BP formally entered a guilty plea in federal court on November 29, 2007. US District Court Judge Ralph Beistline sentenced BP to three years probation and said oil spills were a "serious crime" that could have been prevented if BP had spent more time and funds investing in pipeline upgrades and a "little less emphasis on profit."

Also on October 25, 2007, BP paid a $50 million fine and pleaded guilty to a felony in the refinery explosion. An investigation into the incident concluded that a warning system was not working and that BP sidestepped its own internal regulations for operating the tower. Moreover, BP has a prior felony conviction for improperly disposing of hazardous waste.

In 2007, the Department of Interior's federal Minerals Management Services (MMS), the agency that monitors offshore drilling practices, fined BP $41,000 for not properly training employees in well control management related to a near blowout due to a rise in gass pressure on the Ocean King Rig five years earlier that forced the evacuation of all 65 workers for two days and halted drilling for a week.

According to MMS, Diamond Offshore Drilling, operator of the rig, and BP did not know that the critical safety procedures they employed to try and stop the increase in gas pressure on the Ocean King Rig could also have caused a blowout. Environmental publication Clean Skies reported that MMS "cited BP for what it called 'no formal procedures' and 'no written guideline' to follow in case of an emergency. MMS also cited BP and contract workers in the incident for what they said was a 'lack of knowledge of the system, and lack of pre-event planning and procedures.'"

"In separate incidents, BP was also fined $75,000 in 2003 for not having adequate water pressure on one rig's fire protection system as well as another $80,000 fine for bypassing safety alarms that could have indicated dangerously high pressure, similar to what caused the near-blowout in 2002," according to MMS data cited by Clean Skies in a recent report.

The incident involving Deepwater Horizon, now the subject of a federal investigation, may end up being the latest example of BP's safety practices run amuck.

The issues related to the repeated spills in Prudhoe Bay and elsewhere were revealed by more than 100 whistleblowers who, since as far back as 1999, said the company failed to take seriously their warnings about shoddy safety practices and instead retaliated against whistleblowers who registered complaints with their superiors.

In September 2006, days before BP executives were scheduled to testify before Congress about an oil spill from a ruptured pipeline that forced the company to shutdown its Prudhoe Bay operations, BP announced that it had tapped former federal Judge Stanley Sporkin to serve as an ombudsman and take complaints from employees about the company's operations.

That's who the whistleblower complained to via email about issues related to BP's Atlantis operations in March 2009 a month after his contract was abruptly terminated for reasons he believes were directly related to his complaints to management about BP's failure to obtain the engineering documents on Atlantis and the fact that he "stood up for a female employee who was being discriminated against and harassed." The whistleblower alleged that the $2 million price tag was the primary reason BP did not follow through with a plan formulated months earlier to secure the documents.

"We prepared a plan to remedy this situation but it met much resistance and complaints from the above lead engineers on the project," the whistleblower wrote in the March 4, 2009, email to Pasha Eatedali in BP's ombudsman's office.

Federal Intervention

Additionally, he hired an attorney and contacted the inspector general for the Department of the Interior and MMS and told officials there that BP lacked the required engineer-certified documents related to the major components of the Atlantis subsea gas and oil operation.

In 2007, MMS had approved the construction of an additional well and another drilling center on Atlantis. But the whistleblower alleged in his March 4, 2009, email to Eatedali in BP's Office of the Ombudsman that documents related to this project needed to ensure operational safety were missing and that amounted to a violation of federal law as well as a breach of BP's Atlantis Project Execution Plan. The ombudsman's office agreed to investigate.

MMS, acting on the whistleblower's complaints, contacted BP on June 30, 2009, seeking specific engineering related documents. BP complied with the request three weeks later.

On July 9, 2009, MMS requested that BP turn over certification documents for its Subsurface Safety Valves and Surface Controlled Subsea Safety Valves for all operational wells in the Atlantis field. MMS officials flew out to the platform on the same day and secured the documents, according to an internal letter written by Karen Westall, the managing attorney on BP's Gulf of Mexico Legal Team.

But according to the public advocacy group Food & Water Watch, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit, which became involved in the case last July, BP did not turn over a complete set of materials to MMS.

"BP only turned over 'as-built' drawings for [Atlantis'] topsides and hull, despite the fact that the whistleblower’s allegations have always been about whether BP maintains complete and accurate engineer approved documents for it subsea components," Food & Water Watch said in a 19-page letter it sent toWilliam Hauser, MMS’s Chief, Regulations and Standards Branch.

During two visits to the Atlantis drilling platform last August and September, MMS inspectors reviewed BP's blowout preventer records. Food & Water Watch said they believe MMS inspectors reviewed the test records and failed to look into the whistleblower's charges that engineering documents were missing. The blowout preventer, however, is an issue at the center of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

An MMS spokesperson did not return calls for comment.

Last October, Food & Water Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for expedited processing, seeking documents from MMS that indicate BP "has in its possession a complete and accurate set of 'as built' drawings ... for its entire Atlantis Project, including the subsea sector." "As-built" means lead engineers on a specific project have to make sure updated technical documents match the "as-built" condition of equipment before its used.

MMS denied the FOIA request.

"MMS does not agree with your assessment of the potential for imminent danger to individuals or the environment, for which you premise your argument [for expedited response]. After a thorough review of these allegations, the MMS, with concurrence of the Solicitor's Office, concludes your claims are not supported by the facts or the law," the agency said in its October 30, 2009, response letter.

In response, MMS said that although some of its regulatory requirements governing offshore oil and gas operations do require "as built" drawings, they need not be complete or accurate and, furthermore, are irrelevant to a hazard analysis BP was required to complete.

Unsatisfied with MMS's response, Food & Water Watch contacted Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), a member of the Committee on Natural Resources and chairman of the subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, about the issues revolving around BP's Atlantis operations and provided his office with details of its own investigation into the matter.

"Unsubstantiated" Claims

On January 15, Westall, the BP attorney, wrote a letter to Deborah Lanzone, the staff director with the House Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals, and addressed the allegations leveled by Food & Water Watch as well as indirect claims the whistleblower made.

Westall said BP "reviewed the allegations" related to "noncompliant documentation of the Atlantis project ... and found them to be unsubstantiated." But Westall's response directly contradicts the findings of Billie Pirner Garde, BP's deputy ombudsman, who wrote in an April 13 email to the whistleblower that his claims that BP failed to maintain proper documentation related to Atlantis "were substantiated" and "addressed by a BP Management of Change document." Garde did not say when that change occurred. But he added that the whistleblower's complaints weren't "unique" and had been raised by other employees "before you worked there, while you were there and after you left."

Westall noted in her letter that "all eight BP-operated Gulf of Mexico production facilities" received safety awards from MMS in 2009.

"Maintenance and general housekeeping were rated outstanding and personnel were most cooperative in assisting in the inspection activities," MMS said about BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling facilities. "Platform records were readily available for review and maintained to reflect current conditions."

Westall maintained that the whistleblower as well as Food & Water Watch had it all wrong. Their charges about missing documents has nothing to do with Atlantis' operational safety. Rather, Westall seemed to characterize their complaints as a clerical issue.

"The Atlantis project is a complex project with multiple phases," Westall said in her letter to Lanzone. "The [August 15, 2008] e-mail [written by Barry Duff, a member of the Atlantis subsea team] which was provided to you to support [Food & Water Watch's] allegations relates to the status of efforts to utilize a particular document management system to house and maintain the Atlantis documents. The document database includes engineering drawings for future phases, as well as components or systems which may have been modified, replaced, or not used."

But Representative Grijalva was not swayed by Westall's denials. He continued to press the issue with MMS, and in February, he and 18 other lawmakers signed a letter calling on MMS to probe whether BP "is operating its Atlantis offshore oil platform ... without professionally approved safety documents."

Grijalva said MMS has not "done enough so far to ensure worker and environmental safety at the site, in part because it has interpreted the relevant laws too loosely."

"[C]ommunications between MMS and congressional staff have suggested that while the company by law must maintain 'as-built' documents, there is no requirement that such documents be complete or accurate," the letter said. "This statement, if an accurate interpretation of MMS authorities, raises serious concerns" and requires "a thorough review at the agency level, the legal level and the corporate level. The world's largest oil rig cannot continue to operate without safety documentation. The situation is unacceptable and deserves immediate scrutiny.

"We also request that MMS describe how a regulation that requires offshore operators to maintain certain engineering documents, but does not require that those documents be complete or accurate, is appropriately protective of human health and the environment."

On March 26, MMS launched a formal investigation and is expected to file a report detailing its findings next month.

Zach Corrigan, a senior attorney with Food & Water Watch, said in an interview Thursday that he hopes MMS "will perform a real investigation" and if the agency fails to do so, Congress should immediately hold oversight hearings "and ensure that the explosion and mishap of the Horizon platform is not replicated."

"MMS didn't act on this for nearly a year," Corrigan said. "They seemed to think it wasn't a regulatory or an important safety issue. Atlantis is a real vulnerability."

[thnkfstpal]

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/whistleblower-predicted-gulf-oil-disaster-2

Whistleblower who predicted Gulf oil disaster in 2008 says more are on the way
By karoli Saturday May 01, 2010 7:00am

Jason Leopold has the story over at Truthout. Another day, another story of a huge corporate behemoth running amok and roughshod over the most basic safety regulations and protocols.

In 2008, an employee of BP hired to oversee and maintain required document databases relating to regulatory safety requirements raised concerns about a related BP Gulf project, Atlantis.

    The whistleblower, whose name has been withheld at the person's request because the whistleblower still works in the oil industry and fears retaliation, first raised concerns about safety issues related to BP Atlantis, the world's largest and deepest semi-submersible oil and natural gas platform, located about 200 miles south of New Orleans, in November 2008. Atlantis, which began production in October 2007, has the capacity to produce about 8.4 million gallons of oil and 180 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

    It was then that the whistleblower, who was hired to oversee the company's databases housing documents related to its Atlantis project, discovered that the drilling platform had been operating without a majority of the engineer-approved documents it needed to run safely, leaving the platform vulnerable to a catastrophic disaster that would far surpass the massive oil spill that began last week following a deadly explosion on a BP-operated drilling rig.

The specifics are pretty chilling. Regulations require extensive preparation and analysis of potential hazards with signoffs by qualified engineers at each step. Part of the analysis is a detailed drawing of the project's piping and process flows. BP's were incomplete, which prompted a member of the BP team to alert BP officials to the risk that they could be assumed to be complete, leading to a complete failure of the system. According to the Truthout article, 85 percent of the drawings did not receive engineer approval.

Eighty-five percent. Stunning. And there's more.

    Even worse, 95 percent of Atlantis' subsea welding records did not receive final approval, calling into question the integrity of thousands of crucial welds on subsea components that, if they were to rupture, could result in an oil spill 30 times worse than the one that occurred after the explosion on Deepwater Horizon last week.

The rest of the story is at Truthout. Go read it. It's chilling all on its own, but when read in the larger context of the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch disaster, Goldman Sachs revelations, Wall Street meltdowns and SEC shenanigans, the abject failure of conservative "small government, no regulation" philosophy is truly on parade for everyone to see.

Late-night editorial comment:

The Masseys, Halliburtons, BPs, and Wall Streeters do it because they expect to do it and get away with it. They do it because for 30 years we've listened to the drumbeat of a cadence: Profits over all. As the cadence quickened, the media joined the parade, morphing from objective observer to drum major. The beat grew louder. With each decibel increase, their arrogance and power grew stronger. In 30 years, the John Birch society has transformed from pariah to mainstream. How far will we let them go before we get out in the streets and "take our country back"?

We're not going to undo all of this in a year, two years or four years. It took them thirty years of sustained, over-the-top underhanded rhetoric and behavior to get to this point. I believe the 2010 elections are as much about whether we're willing to arm-wrestle corporate interests for control of this country as they are about any specific candidate or issue. They are about where our hearts are, and we can't afford to turn away or disengage. Not now.

Some contend Democrats aren't any better than Republicans, or liberals than conservatives. Whatever fits. Either way, I disagree. Under a Bush administration, this whistleblower's story would not have seen the light of day or Truthout's site. He went through standard channels first. Under Bush, he'd have been crushed in those channels before he ever had the chance to reach out to Jason. Democrats aren't perfect and neither is Obama. But on their very worst day, they're still better by far than what we can expect with conservatives in control.

Change isn't overnight. They spent 30 years bringing down everything progressives built in the 20th century. We're seeing the fruits of their labor on land, sea, and in the air. Conservatives have brought this country to the brink of ruin. When they can't win by the rules, they write their own. It's time for that to change.

This is where I live. If you were to look at the full-size image, you'd see two offshore oil derricks on the horizon. I don't know who runs them or manages them, but I know I've kicked and screamed for 2 years since Bush lifted the moratorium on drilling off the coast of California (yes, it was Bush, not Obama) about the danger to our coastline.

This is what's at risk here, along with newly revived groups of brown pelicans, migrating whales, and endangered plovers. It could just as easily happen here, and it isn't worth the risk. I believe this so strongly that I gave away my car and decided to walk or ride a bike everywhere I could over a year ago. I don't regret it, and I will fight back as long as I'm breathing for the right to see this coastline this way, to see pelicans dive into clear water and most of all, oil companies' power to diminish.

Nice article but your comments in regads to the information coming out now because we have a fake Democrat in the white house and Congress is ridiculous.

Both parties are run by the CFR, TRILATERAL COMMISION AND BILDERBERG GROUP.

[Letsbereal]

Halliburton May Be Culprit In Oil Rig Explosion
30 April 2010, (The Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/halliburton-may-be-culpri_n_558481.html

Giant oil-services provider Halliburton may be a primary suspect in the investigation into the oil rig explosion that has devastated the Gulf Coast, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Though the investigation into the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon site is still in its early stages, drilling experts agree that blame probably lies with flaws in the "cementing" process -- that is, plugging holes in the pipeline seal by pumping cement into it from the rig. Halliburton was in charge of cementing for Deepwater Horizon.
"The initial likely cause of gas coming to the surface had something to do with the cement," said Robert MacKenzie, managing director of energy and natural resources at FBR Capital Markets and a former cementing engineer in the oil industry.

The problem could have been a faulty cement plug at the bottom of the well, he said. Another possibility would be that cement between the pipe and well walls didn't harden properly and allowed gas to pass through it.

The possibility of Halliburton's culpability was first reported Monday by HuffPost's Marcus Baram.

According to a lawsuit filed in federal court by Natalie Roshto, whose husband Shane, a deck floor hand, was thrown overboard by the force of the explosion and whose body has not yet been located, Halliburton is culpable for its actions prior to the incident.

The suit claims that the company "prior to the explosion, was engaged in cementing operations of the well and well cap and, upon information and belief, improperly and negligently performed these duties, which was a cause of the explosion."

And Congressman Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a tough letter on Friday to Halliburton, asking for an explanation of its work on the rig, according to a spokesperson for the committee.

Last year, Halliburton was also implicated for its cementing work prior to a massive blowout off the coast of Australia, where a rig caught on fire and spewed hundreds of thousands of gallons into the sea for ten weeks.

In that incident, workers apparently failed to properly pump cement into the well, according to Elmer Danenberger, former head of regulatory affairs for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, who testified to an Australian commission probing that accident.

"The problem with the cementing job was one of the root causes in the Australian blowout," Danenberger told Huffington Post, adding that the rig crew didn't pick up on indications of an influx of fluids coming back in after they cemented the casing. "The crew didn't pick up on them and didn't take action."

Halliburton declined to return a detailed request for comment from Huffington Post.

The company did issue a press release responding to reports about its work on the rig:
As one of several service providers on the rig, Halliburton can confirm the following:

-- Halliburton performed a variety of services on the rig, including cementing, and had four employees stationed on the rig at the time of the accident. Halliburton's employees returned to shore safely, due, in part, to the brave rescue efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard and other organizations.

-- Halliburton had completed the cementing of the final production casing string in accordance with the well design approximately 20 hours prior to the incident. The cement slurry design was consistent with that utilized in other similar applications.

-- In accordance with accepted industry practice approved by our customers, tests demonstrating the integrity of the production casing string were completed.

-- At the time of the incident, well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug which would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well, consistent with normal oilfield practice.

-- We are assisting with planning and engineering support for a wide range of options designed to secure the well, including a potential relief well.

Halliburton continues to assist in efforts to identify the factors that may have lead up to the disaster, but it is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any specific causal issues.

Halliburton originated oilfield cementing and leads the world in effective, efficient delivery of zonal isolation and engineering for the life of the well, conducting thousands of successful well cementing jobs each year. The company views safety as critical to its success and is committed to continuously improve performance.


Halliburton May Be Culprit In Oil Rig Explosion 30 April 2010 (The Huffington Post) http://tinyurl.com/2gyev2u

[Mr Grinch]

Plaese someone check this while I catch some ZZZZ's

http://ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov/nm/resultList.asp?Chart=411
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/411.shtml

THIS COULD BE A BIG DEAL !

http://www.oceangrafix.com/o.g/Charts/Sailing/NOAA-Nautical-Chart-Gulf-of-Mexico.html
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/411.shtml
I was talking to a friend tonight about the oil well fire in the Gulf of Mexico . We got talking about the depth. I looked up a map of the Gulf to see what the depth was in the area for the oil well. What I found shocked me. If you look at the NOAA map above you will see just off the coast of Louisiana peninsula and out into the Gulf about as far as the peninsula is long the area where I believe the oil rig went down. Notice what it says on the NOAA map. EXPLOSIVES DUMPING AREA DISUSED ! Could there be a Darwin Award in the cards for these guys drilling in a MINE FIELD ?
I have not heard anyone report the area is an old explosives dumping ground. But from what I see that looks to be the case.
Click on the map at the link above and zoom in on the map.

Crazy

Vega Man

heres a map provided by dude....
http://apnews.myway.com/image/20100501/GULF_OIL_SPILL.sff_GFX620_20100501094810.html?date=20100502&docid=D9FECJ680
Can I get a confirmation as I will sleep now.

[ekimdrachir]

If thermite residue in the wtc dust isnt enough to get an investigation, good luck on an oil spill.

keep trying tho

[citizenx]

It will likely all be water under the bridge, or over the levee as the case may be.

That is true, sadly.

[XR500Final]

Ooops Check the Mud Hand, he probably grabbed the wrong mix, and made Lime Mud, instead of cement lol

Culprit?  An industry that values profits more highly than industry training, and certification, knowing the less certified you are the more money they can save because your far less likely to demand higher wages, and a great supply is available.

And all the refinery builders are using more and more unskilled import foreign labours.

[TheHouseMan]

The "liberals" are using this to justify alternative energy research.

I guess the global warming thing hasn't worked out, so they're trying this oil spill as the problem-reaction-solution.

[Dig]

The "liberals" are using this to justify alternative energy research.

I guess the global warming thing hasn't worked out, so they're trying this oil spill as the problem-reaction-solution.

yup there are all the WE energy crap carbon trading ads going on.

global warming a flop, so industrial terrorism is the next best step for Carlyle/Bilderberg

[bigron]

Gulf oil spill: The Halliburton connection

by Margot Roosevelt and Jill Leovy
http://uruknet.com/?p=m65588&hd=&size=1&l=e

Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2010

Investigators delving into the possible cause of the massive gulf oil spill are focusing on the role of Houston-based Halliburton Co., the giant energy services company, which was responsible for cementing the drill into place below the water. The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.

In a letter to to Halliburton Chief Executive David J. Lesar on Friday, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, called on Halliburton officials to provide all documents relating to "the possibility or risk of an explosion or blowout at the Deepwater Horizon rig and the status, adequacy, quality, monitoring, and inspection of the cementing work" by May 7.

In a statement Friday, Halliburton said "it is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any specific causal issues." The company had four employees stationed on the rig at the time of the accident, all of whom were rescued by the Coast Guard.  "Halliburton had completed the cementing of the final production casing string in accordance with the well design," it said. "The cement slurry design was consistent with that utilized in other similar applications. In accordance with accepted industry practice ... tests demonstrating the integrity of the production casing string were completed."

More than two dozen class action lawsuits have been filed after the explosion against BP PLC, the British company that leased the Deepwater Horizon rig, against the rig's owner, Transocean Ltd. and against Halliburton. BP is "taking full responsibility" for the spill and will pay for "legitimate claims" by affected parties, company spokeswoman Sheila Williams said.


Cement is used at two stages of the deep-water drilling process. It is used to fill gaps between the well pipe and the hole drilled into the seabed so as to prevent any seepage of oil and gas. And it is used to temporarily plug an exploration hole before production begins. At the time of the accident, the Halliburton statement said, "well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug which would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well."

Experts say cementing is a basic part of drilling, exploration and production of oil on the sea floor. Drill ships or rigs plant large pipes called "conductors" on the sea floor, and casings, or nested pipes, are placed inside of them. The pipes are fixed in place by cement, some hanging inside other pipes, and a drill string is run down a casing, and extended to the sea floor to bore holes.

Mud works its way back up the pipes and the "riser," a pipe that connects the drill site to the ship or rig above. Or oil is brought up. Cement fixes the operations in place. Cement may also be used to plug a well, pumped down the string until it comes up on the sides, and stops the hole.


Cementing a deep-water drilling operation is a process fraught with danger. A 2007 study by the U.S. Minerals Management Service found that cementing was the single most important factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period -- more than equipment malfunction. Halliburton has been accused of a poor cement job in the case of a major blowout in the Timor Sea off Australia last August. An investigation is underway.

According to experts cited in Friday's Wall St. Journal, the timing of last week's cement job in relation to the explosion -- only 20 hours beforehand, and the history of cement problems in other blowouts "point to it as a possible culprit." Robert MacKenzie, managing director of energy and natural resources at FBR Capital Markets and a former cementing engineer, told the Journal, "The initial likely cause of gas coming to the surface had something to do with the cement."

In its statement, the company said, "Halliburton originated oilfield cementing and leads the world in effective, efficient delivery of zonal isolation and engineering for the life of the well, conducting thousands of successful well cementing jobs each year."

The company, which was once headed by former Vice President Dick Cheney, has been in the media spotlight before -- under under fire in recent years for its operations as a private contractor in Iraq.


--Margot Roosevelt and Jill Leovy

Photo: The Halliburton sign adorns a machine at a site in Rulison, Colo. Credit: David Zalubowski/AP 

 

[wvoutlaw2002]

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is one of very few representatives in high office aside from Cynthia McKinney to demand answers on this issue.

We applaud Blagojevich's eforts. The iron curtain of official denial and soft-peddling is falling down.

That's probably who ZiObama sold Blago down the crapper.

[chris jones]

The Halliburton big dogs have been screwing this nation and citizenry for decades. They are a morally bankrupt crew of elites.
I have read the posts of the rig workers, I agree with one statement, cementing is tricky, though the safety factors were not mentioned.
I worked on supply ships, and a few drill ships. By no means am I attempting to say I am an oilman.

I have to get in one perspective that I have not seen mentioned. Safety is a priority on a rig, gas leaks are monitored with severe scrutiny, i remember the few times I was on a drill ship we carried gas detectors faithfully,escaped gas is one deadly bugger, safety factors are in the multiples.

Sorry to get on a rant, but it seems to me the ducks were in a line here, as though the big dogs were prepared for this disaster, waiting , drooling at  the mouth,-a coincidence, I can't buy it.

One fella mentioned the cost to halliburton, that is yet to be seen! In my feeble opinion these guys can manipulate numbers any wich way but loose if it comes to that, they are far from alone in this abomination.

These elites do not count in the milion, they refer to a million as a unit.  In short money to them is but numbers to be manipulated, they have it all. Yes, the workers will be hit, stand by folks, the little guys, but the masters of this outfit will not feel the pinch, I beleive we can all agree on that.

The big picture here is the casue and EFFECT. The domestic outcome, not the shareholders, not the fines, penaltys, costs. the masters will not absorb them, the masses, the little people will.

The end of this game they play is what are the rsults of this to become, its more than apparent the military are going Baaaals to the wall, our elected officals are playing this one out.

i sincerely suggest that those who seek a truthfull answer as to the casue of this disaster focus on the end results domestically. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, who is going to suffer, the elites or the people.

[Mr Grinch]

A little final bubble to suck the US population dry before the dollar cataclysm wipes us all out.....

Just like Lindsey Williams said.

[Beefcake]

Haliburton buys oil well firefighting corporation for 240 million a week before the Oil rig disaster.  Great timing Haliburton.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/halliburton-snaps-up-boots-and-coots/19435689/

In 1978, Edward "Coots" Matthews and Asger "Boots" Hansen founded Boots & Coots (WEL). Both were veteran oil-well firefighters. In fact, they provided inspiration for a 1968 film called Hellfighters, starring John Wayne.

But the days of independence have come to an end for Boots & Coots as the company has agreed to sell out to Halliburton (HAL) for $240.4 million. Shareholders will get $1.73 in cash and $1.27 in Halliburton stock for every share of Boots & Coots.

The company certainly has a distinguished history. It has been critical in dealing with many well fires, including those from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. But given its relatively small size, Boots & Coots has been at a disadvantage. As a result, the stock price has been mostly lackluster over the years.

A Perilous Business

Boots & Coots has two core businesses. First, there is Pressure Control, which involves prevention and risk-control services for oil- and gas-well fires and blowouts. A key to this area was the acquisition of John Wright, which developed sophisticated technologies to measure well integrity.

Next, Boots & Coots has a Well Intervention division, which helps enhance production for oil and gas operators. This business is likely to benefit nicely from the trend toward unconventional resource plays (such as extracting energy from shale). Boots & Coots greatly expanded this division with the acquisitions of Oil States International and StassCo.

Despite all this, the company is still at the whim of volatile energy markets, as well as unpredictable government-owned oil companies. For example, last year Boots & Coots saw a 7% fall in revenues to $195.1 million, with net income down from $21.8 million to $6 million. Keep in mind that during this period, there was nearly a 50% drop in domestic rig counts.

But as part of Halliburton, Boots & Coots will have more leverage to expand its platform, especially in areas like Africa and even Southeast Asia, which should provide significant growth opportunities.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/halliburton-snaps-up-boots-and-coots/19435689/?icid=sphere_copyright

[larsonstdoc]

Haliburton buys oil well firefighting corporation for 240 million a week before the Oil rig disaster.  Great timing Haliburton.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/halliburton-snaps-up-boots-and-coots/19435689/

Coincidence or just good planing?  (sarcasm)

It's like Silverstein getting good insurance for the Twin Towers.
               http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/silverstein.html

[Beefcake]

Coincidence or just good planing?  (sarcasm)

It's like Silverstein getting good insurance for the Twin Towers.
               http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/silverstein.html

Oh no doubt in my mind they are involved.  They have 2 dozen lawsuits against them and countless publication are naming them as possibly being responsible yet the television news networks haven't even uttered their name.  It is definitely newsworthy that they have lawsuits against them and that they worked on the rig 20hrs before it blew so that fact that they aren't being mentioned draws suspicion.

[Samadhi]

Brady84

Also, unlike other industries in America we actually have to make a profit to survive, you will never see the gov't bail us out, this incident could cost Halliburton billions, making it happen on purpose would be VERY bad business.

chris jones

These elites do not count in the milion, they refer to a million as a unit.  In short money to them is but numbers to be manipulated, they have it all. Yes, the workers will be hit, stand by folks, the little guys, but the masters of this outfit will not feel the pinch, I beleive we can all agree on that.

Exactly, like chris jones, said..."These elites do not count in the milion, they refer to a million as a unit", to take that staement one step further...the "elite" dont use money. Money is just useless scraps of paper, shiny metal and sparkly rocks. There is no such thing as money. The words million, billion, trillion, mean nothing to them, their only currency is power and control.

The rabbit hole goes reeeal deep, just know that we were born into Slavery and your perspective of the World, your place with in it and how it functions is a subterfuge.

We are programmed since birth not to see the bars on our cage. 

Ask yourself...where did the Rulers and Dictators of the great Empires and Dynasties go?
Did the Pharaohs and their knowledge just did fade off into obscurity?

Again....The rabbit hole goes reeeal deep! 

[Samadhi]

turtle

Misleading title of thread. Now, exactly WHO supposedly 'caught' Halliburton rigging oil rigs to explode ? The Keystone Cops ? If a legitimate law enforcement agency 'caught' them, why no indictment ? Why no lead story on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ? Why no arrests and TV perp walks into the courtroom from jail ?

Who do you think OWNS the "legitimate law enforcement agency"?
Who do you think OWNS "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric"?
Who do you think OWNS the courtrooms from jails?
 

IF someone deliberately destroyed an oil rig and killed 11 workers, I want to see all of the above.
If you want anyone to believe your posts, you need to STEP UP YOUR GAME and not make such LAME threads as this one. Next time, ask your seventh-grade English teacher for some tips on composition and form.

How many lives were destroyed and innocent people sacrificed and murdered in Vietnam?

See, Haliburton and its subsidiaries have a very definitive track-record of making things happen on accident, but, if your depending on the Main Stream Media for your information and facts, you will forever remain ignorant and spinning on that hamster-wheel you're currently on.

 

[turtle]

turtle
Who do you think OWNS the "legitimate law enforcement agency"? Obama ?
Who do you think OWNS "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric"? Westinghouse ?
Who do you think OWNS the courtrooms from jails? Obama ?
 How many lives were destroyed and innocent people sacrificed and murdered in Vietnam? Vietnam is irrelevant and immaterial
See, Haliburton and its subsidiaries have a very definitive track-record of making things happen on accident, but, if your depending on the Main Stream Media for your information and facts, you will forever remain ignorant and spinning on that hamster-wheel you're currently on.

You apparently haven't read my posts. I am neither defending Halliburton nor relying on the mainstream media for my information. Please re-read.

[Dig]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/goldman-sachs-reveals-it_b_558774.html
Goldman Sachs Reveals it Shorted Gulf of Mexico


Andy Borowitz

BorowitzReport.com
Posted: April 30, 2010 01:25 PM


NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) - In what is looming as another public relations predicament for Goldman Sachs, the banking giant admitted today that it made "a substantial financial bet against the Gulf of Mexico" one day before the sinking of an oil rig in that body of water.

The new revelations came to light after government investigators turned up new emails from Goldman employee Fabrice "Fabulous Fab" Tourre in which he bragged to a girlfriend that the firm was taking a "big short" position on the Gulf.

"One oil rig goes down and we're going to be rolling in dough," Mr. Tourre wrote in one email. "Suck it, fishies and birdies!"

The news about Goldman's bet against the Gulf comes on the heels of embarrassing revelations that the firm had taken a short position on Lindsay Lohan's acting career.

[tritonman]

I can not find a confirmation on this it may well be a hoax.

[Dig]

I can not find a confirmation on this it may well be a hoax.

He is a satirist:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz