‘Difference of opinion’ on BP’s oil rig hours before explosion! (More Truth: detailed article

It was shortly before noon on April 20, only ten hours before a torrent of crude oil ripped through the Deepwater Horizon rig, that the quarrel broke out.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8da996a37eb6.jpg[/atsimg]Picture: wellsy.wordpress.com/

“There was a slight argument that took place and a difference of opinions,” Doug Brown, the rig’s chief mechanic and a survivor of the accident to come, told a federal board of investigators last week in Kenner, Louisiana.

In a room next to the rig’s galley three employees of Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon, and one of six BP engineers on board, argued about the decision to stop using “mud” — a mix of clay, water and minerals used to control pressure in the Macondo well — and replace it with seawater. The move was meant to be a prelude to capping and plugging the well with a final slug of cement

But it had also created concerns among some workers, who had detected signs of trouble. To those who expressed their misgivings, Mr Brown said, the BP official, simply said: “That’s how it’s gonna be.”

One of the sceptics was Dewey Revette, a 48-year-old driller from Mississippi; he was one of the 11 people to be killed that night. In response to the BP decision, Mr Brown said that he heard Jimmy Harrell, Transocean’s top rig manager, grumble: “Guess that’s what we have those pinchers for” as he left the scene.

Mr Harrell, he believed, was referring to the shear rams, or cutters, positioned on the seabed blow-out preventer (BOP), which were designed to clamp shut over the riser pipe in the event of an uncontrolled blowout of oil and gas.

The failure of this supposedly failsafe valve, manufactured by Cameron International, a US engineering group, was a key factor in the disaster. A few hours later the removal of the mud had critically reduced the downward pressure on the oil and gas inside the reservoir.

While the full picture of who was to blame for the accidentw ill not emerge for months, the dispute described by Mr Brown — a “skirmish”, as he called it — is among the most chilling of a string of incidents that are gradually becoming clearer.

BP documents obtained by The New York Times have also suggested that the company had concerns about the well casing and the blowout preventer as long as 11 months ago. They further show that in March BP officials advised US regulators that they were struggling with a loss of “well control” after a series of “kicks” — uncontrolled bursts of gas erupting from it.

The immediate countdown to the blast, however, began late the night before the tragedy when engineers from Halliburton, the oil service company, finished cementing the well using a special type of cement that was trickier to handle than usual. BP has since raised questions about the quality of the work carried out, an accusation that Halliburton has rejected. Whoever was at fault, it seems clear that the casing of the well was not properly sealed, enabling gas to penetrate and pressure to build up inside.

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk...
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/dcb5331481c5.jpg[/atsimg]Picture: blogs.alternet.org

One thing for sure: BP company officials knew something was or could go wrong! And that they ignored advice from it's professionals who's job it was to monitor the issues at hand.

I think this proves beyond a doubt that the line of criminal negligence was crossed and that these people need to be detained and interviewed before anymore time passes-to ensure the memories are the freshest.

Who is doing the investigations? FBI? Homeland Security? Coast Guard? Anyone? Except the BRITISH PRESS for petes sake!!!!! I want heads to start rolling NOW!

Please see the source article for more info on the story. The sad thing is this was preventable.






[edit on 5/31/2010 by anon72]

[edit on 5/31/2010 by anon72]

looking at the live feed 2:43am and it appears that the leak that is being monitored has caught fire under water. At least that is what it looks like to me.
www.bp.com...

I might be interpreting it wrong but it looks like fire.


s&f op

reply to post by staple


I think that due to the angle of the pipe shown in that feed, the gas is rising to the top side of the pipe before being released, so it is "concentrated" and looks like that color before being dispersed. The black is the color of the crude oil I think. In other clips that we've seen, it looked a more brown color, and I think that was because the oil and gas were rushing out more vertically, so the gas did not separate so much.

I don't think there can be fire under water unless there is an inert gas surrounding a highly flammable other gas, then some special flint or tool is used to light it. I don't know much about wielding, but I think that's the general idea.

OP, I don't think we need to kill people to stop this from happening again. I am sure there are plenty more people to tie into this event who we could say "You didn't do your job, so you should die too." For instance, the very guys on that rig could have refused to work after hearing the news. If they didn't know, well that one guy didn't tell him, so let's see his head roll. I don't mind getting down to the cause, but I think it's more nebulous a cloud of guilt than we could ever pinpoint; I don't think we would stop this type of thing from happening again (major accident, not necessarily oil spill).

reply to post by glitchinmymatrix


I didn't mean for heads to acutally roll. I mean people have to be held accountble for their appartent criminal actions related to the decisions made that day leading up to the event. And probably afterwards also.

No one can chime in as to who or what agency is in charge of any investigations and it those cases have been determined to be criminal in nature or just Civil Law related?

anon72
Transocean’s top rig manager, grumble: “Guess that’s what we have those pinchers for” as he left the scene.

Yeah, it seems like this was planned deliberately... but Why?

Is it to take the Failed "Cap and Trade" movement (for them making those sweet CO2 dollars) and directing it to environmentalism, or something else? (Money making scheme)

IS it to destroy the food supply?

Are they letting BP Tank, and hedging their bets against it? (Selling Short)

Hmmm...

-Edrick

reply to post by Edrick


What I find interesting is that the Gas prices haven't went upward. Actually holding steady.

Makes it seem the other times when prices shot up after an event,-Supply and demand.

Now it is likek Don't add insult to injurt to the American people-Right now.