bp knew there was a problem 11 months ago.

WASHINGTON — Internal documents from BP show that there were serious problems and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far earlier than those the company described to Congress last week.
The problems involved the well casing and the blowout preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the chain of events that led to the disaster on the rig.

The documents show that in March, after several weeks of problems on the rig, BP was struggling with a loss of “well control.” And as far back as 11 months ago, it was concerned about the well casing and the blowout preventer.

On June 22, for example, BP engineers expressed concerns that the metal casing the company wanted to use might collapse under high pressure.

“This would certainly be a worst-case scenario,” Mark E. Hafle, a senior drilling engineer at BP, warned in an internal report. “However, I have seen it happen so know it can occur.”

The company went ahead with the casing, but only after getting special permission from BP colleagues because it violated the company’s safety policies and design standards. The internal reports do not explain why the company allowed for an exception. BP documents released last week to The Times revealed that company officials knew the casing was the riskier of two options.

Though his report indicates that the company was aware of certain risks and that it made the exception, Mr. Hafle, testifying before a panel on Friday in Louisiana about the cause of the rig disaster, rejected the notion that the company had taken risks.

“Nobody believed there was going to be a safety issue,” Mr. Hafle told a six-member panel of Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service officials.

“All the risks had been addressed, all the concerns had been addressed, and we had a model that suggested if executed properly we would have a successful job,” he said.

Mr. Hafle, asked for comment by a reporter after his testimony Friday about the internal report, declined to answer questions.

BP’s concerns about the casing did not go away after Mr. Hafle’s 2009 report.

In April of this year, BP engineers concluded that the casing was “unlikely to be a successful cement job,” according to a document, referring to how the casing would be sealed to prevent gases from escaping up the well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/u...all&adxnnlx=1275307402-BSVxhi3SWf87GUPJag4iHg

 

nobody cares

just yesterday some fine example of average American posted on ET

"I don't care I live on the other end of US"

LOL stupid commoners

they get what they ultimately deserve

SH!T

 

This gulf disaster has been a stunning inditement of corporate greed. A company making a billion a month yet still cutting corners. There needs to be a criminal investigation on this one. The credible threat of jail is the only thing that might slow down the executives at multinationals from destroying everything.

 

I freaking care. This really pisses me off!

 

now everybody freaking cares. why nobody cared before?

everybody cared only about gas getting more expensive. people just think they can get all for free. then when accident happens they start to look for someone else to blame. there are hundreds of deep water wells drilled a year with loose regulation - and all that for you to fill the gas tank on cheap and companies to make massive profits. no wonder one day disaster strikes.

it is deja vu all over again - remember banking crisis and why that happened? or iraq wars and why those happened? there is a pattern here. people should be looking into mirror much more often!


p.s. not saying BP does not bear big responsibility here - but if it was a criminal conduct we will have to see. until now i can see only incompetent decisions within the borders of fucked up regulation done by people watching porn instead.

atb

 

shmucks, what planet you living on?

10,000 like this every day , 365

Only when it hits the fan does it see the light of day.


how about all the scum that speed on neighborhood streets and run Stop signs. You only hear about it when they run over an old lady or a kid. I never see a cop pull the bastards over.

everyone cuts corners, and no one does shit about it, or is flogged when caught, so who is really to blame?

 

It has and always will come back to this....Human beings are BAD.