Fight, fight, fight!....

hopper1

BP begin pointing the finger at Transocean :shock:
This will get nasty...

bennett_346

BP will never accept the blame for anything, let alone apologise to those affected. I understand if its something that they couldnt't control or was accidental but come on...

crankycrank

Thank goodness they decided to become a "green" company in 2000.

northernneil

according to news reports they have accepted fault and will pay all costs ?

not that they really could do anything else surely

MattC59

I read on Sunday that they had accepted responsibility.
That said, although the platform collapsed, there is a piece of equipment called a 'Blow Off Protector" which is designed for such eventualities and will seal the well. This failed and didn't close seal the well.

Now, BP don't manufacture this piece of equipment and whilst they could point the finger at the manufacturer, they haven't..... yet. That said, BP have stated that this failure was totally unforseeable, and I'm sure that the PFD (Probability of Failure on Demand) and MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) support this.

For those who don't know about these figures, they're calculated and used in other calculations (amongst other calculations) to effectively give a safety rating or the likelyhood of the equipment failing. I'd place money on the fact that the likelyhood of the BOP failing is something rediculous like once in a blue moon (a very infrequent blue moon !) Unfortunately, that 'once' happens to have been recently.

I'm not defending anyone, just pointing perhaps it was unforseeable and although a disaster, is just one of those things...............

beverick

northernneil wrote:

according to news reports they have accepted fault and will pay all costs ?

Which is more than TransOcean (who own and operate the rig on BP's behalf) have done?

Bob

TommyEss

BP hired TransOcean to operate the rig for them.

If you hail a taxi and you have a crash which turns out was because the driver didn't check his tyre tread, would you, the passenger, expect to have to compensate the victims in the other car?

Just playing devil's advocate, y'know! :twisted:

hopper1

MattC59 wrote:

I read on Sunday that they had accepted responsibility.
That said, although the platform collapsed, there is a piece of equipment called a 'Blow Off Protector" which is designed for such eventualities and will seal the well. This failed and didn't close seal the well.

Now, BP don't manufacture this piece of equipment and whilst they could point the finger at the manufacturer, they haven't..... yet. That said, BP have stated that this failure was totally unforseeable, and I'm sure that the PFD (Probability of Failure on Demand) and MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) support this.

For those who don't know about these figures, they're calculated and used in other calculations (amongst other calculations) to effectively give a safety rating or the likelyhood of the equipment failing. I'd place money on the fact that the likelyhood of the BOP failing is something rediculous like once in a blue moon (a very infrequent blue moon !) Unfortunately, that 'once' happens to have been recently.

I'm not defending anyone, just pointing perhaps it was unforseeable and although a disaster, is just one of those things...............

That'll be a BOP - Blow Out Preventer.
It didn't fail... It was opened, after the Riser was displaced to water!

hopper1

TommyEss wrote:

BP hired TransOcean to operate the rig for them.

If you hail a taxi and you have a crash which turns out was because the driver didn't check his tyre tread, would you, the passenger, expect to have to compensate the victims in the other car?

Doesn't quite work like that...

Bp contract Transocean to drill a well. Transocean supply the required vessel, along with crew.
BP select all 3rd Party companies to assist where needed.
BP provide Day and Night Supervisors onboard. These guys, often referred to as 'Company Men', or DSV's, are onboard to ensure that the well is drilled as per BP's drilling programme.
Transocean have a supervisor onboard too, a Rig Superintendent/OIM, he is there to ensure safety of the crew and the asset.

Bit like getting in a Taxi and directing the driver where to go.

And maybe taking responsibility, in the likelihood of a crash.

MattC59

hopper1 wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

I read on Sunday that they had accepted responsibility.
That said, although the platform collapsed, there is a piece of equipment called a 'Blow Off Protector" which is designed for such eventualities and will seal the well. This failed and didn't close seal the well.

Now, BP don't manufacture this piece of equipment and whilst they could point the finger at the manufacturer, they haven't..... yet. That said, BP have stated that this failure was totally unforseeable, and I'm sure that the PFD (Probability of Failure on Demand) and MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) support this.

For those who don't know about these figures, they're calculated and used in other calculations (amongst other calculations) to effectively give a safety rating or the likelyhood of the equipment failing. I'd place money on the fact that the likelyhood of the BOP failing is something rediculous like once in a blue moon (a very infrequent blue moon !) Unfortunately, that 'once' happens to have been recently.

I'm not defending anyone, just pointing perhaps it was unforseeable and although a disaster, is just one of those things...............

That'll be a BOP - Blow Out Preventer.
It didn't fail... It was opened, after the Riser was displaced to water!

Not what I read, but always open to being proved wrong

Edit: That's regarding the failure....... I had a feeling I'd got the BOP name wrong, but was having a major brain fart at the time and couldn't think of the correct name.........

MattC59

Just found this.............

"Fryar and other BP executives said they still don't know why the blowout preventer did not seal the well when workers tried to activate it on April 20, when a blowout in the well engulfed the Deepwater Horizon in flames, killing 11 and sinking the structure two days later."

"Within 24 hours of the explosion, robot submarines failed to execute two backup methods for engaging the blowout preventer, he said.
Later, when trying to diagnose the problem, BP discovered leaks on the hydraulic controls, Fryar said, which since have since been fixed."

May 3rd.

Apparently, they 're not sure why it failed, and the BOP is currently burried under a lot of steelwork on the seabed.

hopper1

I'll dig out some more soon...

Statement from a guy that was on the Deep Water Horizon, when it all kicked off...

TommyEss

Cheers Hopper - you're clearly a bit more into oil and gas than myself - I'm a process guy, but mainly pharma!!

MattC59

hopper1 wrote:

I'll dig out some more soon...

Statement from a guy that was on the Deep Water Horizon, when it all kicked off...

Interesting stuff !!

hopper1

I hear that the intermediate cement job was poor....
Therefore, allowing communication between annulae :shock:
We'll have to see what comes out in the 'wash up'!















This is only hear say/rumour so far, and cannot be interpretted as libelous!

MattC59

Just recieved an email from the EIC (Energy Industries Council) inviting me to a seminar entitled

"Introduction to Mechanical Seal Fundamentals"

I wonder if they had the stones to send it to anyone at BP

hopper1

^^^^

bennett_346

This is from the BBC

Oil giant BP has acknowledged it is "absolutely responsible" for cleaning up a huge oil spill after an explosion at one of its wells off the US coast.

But BP boss Tony Hayward said the firm was not to blame for the accident which sank the Deepwater Horizon rig on 22 April, causing the slick.

They aren't taking responsibility for the accident, but they will accept it is their job to organise clean up.

hopper1

Here's an extract of an email just received, sent by someone involved, onboard at the time.
Sorry for the Caps Lock, but this is how it was received:

THEY HAD SET A 9-5/8 TAPERED PRODUCTION LINER, DID THEIR CEMENT JOB, HAD
> POSITIVE TESTED, AND ALSO NEGITIVE TESTED, THEY WERE GOING TO SET A BALANCED
> PLUG AROUND 3000' BELOW THE WELL HEAD WHICH WOULD BE AT ABOUT 8000', THE
> SENIOR COMPANY MAN WANTED TO SET THE BALANCED PLUG IN MUD, BUT THE ENGINEERS
> WANTED TO DISPLACE WITH WATER PRIOR TO SETTING BALANCED PLUG, SO THEY
> DISPLACED FROM 3000' BELOW MUD LINE, AND WERE GETTING READY TO SET PLUG. THE
> DERRICKMAN CALLED THE DRILLER AND SAID HE NEEDED HELP, HE HAD MUD GOING
> EVERYWHERE, AND ABOUT THIS TIME THE DRILL FLOOR DISAPEARED, THEN THERE WAS
> AN EXPLOSION, THEN A SECOND EXPLOSION.
>
> THE FLAMES ARE NOW GOING STRAIGHT UP ALLOWING EVACUATION OF MEN, THEN YOU
> KNOW THE REST.
>
> THE HANDS THAT ARE MISSING ARE THE ONES THAT WERE ON THE DRILL FLOOR AND
> PUMP ROOM. YOU KNOW THE RESULTS OF THAT. THIS ALL TOOK PLACE IN LESS THAN A
> MINUTE.
>
> RIG WAS EVACUATED IN ABOUT 25 MINUTES.
>
> IT IS BELIVED THAT THE SEAL ASSEMBLY AT THE WELL HEAD GAVE UP. IF THAT IS
> THE CASE AND THEY WOULD HAVE SET THE BALANCED PLUG IN MUD THEN DISPLACED THE
> RISER, IT WOULD ONLY HAVE DELAYED WHAT HAPPENED BY A COUPLE OF HOURS.
>
> GAS MUST HAVE CHANNELLED THROUGH THE CEMENT JOB AND UP THE BACK SIDE OF THE
> 9-5/8 PRODUCTION CASING.

ddraver

bennett_346 wrote:

This is from the BBC

Oil giant BP has acknowledged it is "absolutely responsible" for cleaning up a huge oil spill after an explosion at one of its wells off the US coast.

But BP boss Tony Hayward said the firm was not to blame for the accident which sank the Deepwater Horizon rig on 22 April, causing the slick.

They aren't taking responsibility for the accident, but they will accept it is their job to organise clean up.

Under US law (and most other block License laws I think), it is the operator that has responsibility for the well regardless of who actually drills it, That the BOP did nt work is a major failure.

Thus Although it is Transocean that f**ked up, it is BP's responsibility for the clean up - does nt seem fair at all really does it?!

hopper1

Though it may appear that the seal failure on the BOP allowed this release, it wasn't the cause.

BP reps (DSV's & DE's) where onboard at the time of the incident, and believe me, they will have been right there at the sharp end, instructing the crew as to what was required.
It appears that the 9 5/8" cement job had been poor, allowing communications through micro annulae.
That is a fundamental error that they all would have been aware of, yet apparetly decided to overlook (often happens).

BP write the drilling programme for the well, Transocean follow it, BP are onsite all the way, to ensure that the programme is followed.
BOP's are tested every 14 days (21 days with written dispensation) as per API regs.