TransOceans Dirty Laundry - The BOP Test doc from February

I went looking for some more PDF's released before April 19 regarding the Macondo well and found a few more things...

For example... the safety test of the BOP unfortunately, the names of been redacted... but I'm not sure why...

Yet there is one odd thing that stands out... they did two days of testing... and on the first day, this happens...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d27326e6cd71.png[/atsimg]

Exemption? What Exemption?

They test on the next day... but this hiccup seems suspicious...

Here is a TransOcean marketing Slick that details all of their current explorations. This was one of my favorite parts...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/368e23993346.png[/atsimg]


Here is a students report on RIG, TransOceans stock symbol

RIG has a revenue backlog of 32.2 billion and 96% of this backlog is with companies that have investment
grade debt or better. This makes it unlikely that any of these companies would try to break their current
contracts. Weakness in the shallow and midwater markets have negatively impacted earnings, however, the
deepwater market has seen increased demand. RIG is well positioned to take advantage of this market. For
example, RIG’s Deepwater Horizon just completed the deepest oil and gas well ever drilled to a true vertical
depth of 35,050 feet in 4,130 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. BP recently signed a three-year extension to
continue use of the Deepwater Horizon. While not yet announced, sources have speculated there is a one billion
dollar agreement between Transocean and Exxon Mobil to drill in the Arctic. There are also other prospects as
companies seek to explore offshore drilling. Oil fields are falling into the hands of governments or unstable
regions. In the United States, existing onshore oil reserves are depleting, while there are more abundant reserves
offshore. This should provide a steady stream of revenue for Transocean in the near future. Transocean has
recently seen a spike in the number of idle rigs, and third quarter utilization was down 9%. A continuation in
this trend would be troublesome for Transocean.

It doesn't look good for Transocean...

Even though BPs PDF of their application to MMS covered up tons as well...

Transocean signed off on the tests...

[edit on 25-6-2010 by HunkaHunka]

Excellent find OP!

I'm confused though.

Is this FOD the same thing as a BOP?

reply to post by loveguy


This is just one part of the bop test document... The parts which were exempted though, were the same ones folks have been saying failed...

Transocean leased the rig and BP had the ultimate authority so.....Halliburton is more culpable vs Transocean imho since they did the cement job.....


AND BP knows this and that's why they are paying for everything= it's a basic logic problem.

Exemption? What Exemption?
The only way to test a shear ram is to shear something.

One problem then is to recover the bottom of what you sheared.
fishing in a well for lose parts is a real pain in the a**
I have had to do it on a water well and it was only 100 foot deep.

This BOP was OLD.
It was first used in 2001.

The shear ram may have not been rated to shear newer drill rod.

The hydraulic pressure may have dropped due to loss of power between the time that the rig caught fire and a ROV got down there to manually tried to close the system.(three days+)

my recommendations are to up date the design of BOPs

One: BOPs should have TWO shear rams set far enough apart that if a drill pipe joint is in one the other will be clear and can shear the drill pipe.

two: BOPs shear rams should be UP rated from 7500 psi ram pressures to 15,000 psi.

three: BOPs should have quick connect fitting so that external hydraulic lines can be connected. This would allow ROVs to rapidly connect a portable system and retry the system if the on-board hydraulics failed.

four: New systems for riser connections be adopted so that if a rig is lost the riser can break away and a new riser can be plugged in to catch any oil leaking. likely this could be incorporated into a second shear ram system that would not only shear the drill pipe at the top of the BOP but would shear the riser in a way that the stub could be removed and a new riser plugged in the top of the BOP.

This would also protect the BOP from being damaged by the pressure of a falling riser.