BP testified on Capitol Hill today to answer grilling questions regarding their specific drilling techniques and how they led to the April 20th accident in the Gulf of Mexico. It was clear from the testimony that BP cut corners by using a cheaper technique that ultimately may have caused the platform to burn and collapse.
Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, confirmed in a statement under oath that the company chose a drilling technique, known as single string casing, to save the company between 7 and 10 million dollars in operating costs. This technique is not used in deepwater drilling by any of its competitors such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips or Shell Oil.
The specific drilling technique used by BP does not fully circulate the head of the well and allows natural gas to escape unless a cementing bond log is applied which in BP’s case was not implemented.
The second oversight on BP’s part was to omit procedures to degasify the mud around the well, which again allowed more natural gas to escape from the well. In addition, the company decided to only use 6 centralizers instead of the 21 recommended by the Minerals Management Service (MMS).
MMS is the federal regulatory body that approves and oversees any drilling activity on or off the shores of the US and is lead by Secretary Salazar who was appointed to the position by President Obama.
Tony Hayward stated in his testimony that all the plans, as submitted for federal approval by the MMS, were followed as were the safety procedures, as recommended by the same agency, except for the centralizers.
BP has set aside a 20 billion dollar rescue fund to pay for the oil spill cleanup but that may not be enough to compensate all the victims in the Gulf States.
The end result of this disaster may very well become a shared responsibility between BP as the platform operator and the US Government agency for failing to properly regulate and supervise the drilling techniques and for not enforcing mandatory safety measures.
The oil spill continues to increase and has caught the Gulf Stream where it will make its way to the US Eastern seaboard while the Gulf of Mexico continues to see its negative effect on jobs and livelihoods.
Written by Nick Doms © 2010, all rights reserved
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