Let's blame the photographer!

Thank you for the information in the posting of this thread.
The experts we heard of in Europe and have still in our mind seemed to be from geological departments of universities... and they were mentioned in our newspapers as those who announced much earlier than BP that the amount of released oil is much higher than BP admitted. We had articles of journalists in our newspapers which spread the image that in the first weeks after the accident the media in the US dropped to a certain extent the correct information about the spill. I remember the literal statement of european journalist that the US media were unexpected calm at the beginning of the spill because the journalists here knew already about the large impacts.

Something from the hearing yesterday in Kenner (via WaPo):

The hearing did produce some new details.

One witness described how BP mixed a large quantity of two chemicals and injected them into the well to flush out drilling mud. But the chemicals aren't usually mixed together, and the injection of more than 400 barrels of dense, gray fluid were about double the quantity normally used for the task, said Leo Lindner, a drilling fluid specialist for contractor M-I Swaco.

The reason for the action: BP had hundreds of barrels of the two chemicals on hand and needed to dispose of it, Lindner testified. By first flushing it into the well, the company could take advantage of an exemption in an environmental law that otherwise would have prohibited the discharge of the hazardous waste into the gulf, he said.

"It's not something we've ever done before," he said.

Improvising

Despite assurances from a BP specialist, Lindner conducted his own improvised experiment the night before the explosion to double-check. He mixed a gallon of one substance with a gallon of the other. When the well exploded, a fluid that fit its general description rained down on the rig. Bertone said part of the rig was covered with an inch or more of material that he said resembled "snot."

Bertone also testified that a variety of maintenance problems afflicted the Deepwater Horizon in the months before it exploded and sank, killing 11 workers and triggering the massive spill.

A BP audit of the rig in September found 390 maintenance issues that had not been resolved, BP lawyer Richard Godfrey said while questioning Bertone. Godfrey said the auditors estimated that it would take 3,545 hours to make repairs.

Bertone said many of the items listed in the September audit were based on a new maintenance program that was not tailored or relevant to the rig.

He testified that the computer on a chair used by the rig's driller had been malfunctioning and that its hard drive had been replaced. When the computer froze, it rendered the driller blind to conditions in the well unless he switched chairs. In addition, one of the rig's thrusters had been having problems for eight months, he said, and the rig had experienced partial blackouts.

Ronnie Penton, an attorney for one of the rig workers, said in an interview after the hearing that the double-sized dose of fluid skewed a crucial test of pressure in the well just hours before the blowout. Based on the test BP concluded it was safe to continue displacing the heavy mud from the well in favor of much lighter sea water.

A bit more from the same hearing, from the New York Times:

Unusual Step Recalled With Blowout Preventer

A former worker on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig testified Monday that he had used an abnormal way of testing a critical emergency device that failed on the day of the explosion. The worker, Leo T. Lindner, a drilling fluid specialist for M. I. Swaco, testified at a government hearing in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner that BP had given him permission to use an unusually large amount of a fluid called a “spacer” when conducting tests of the blowout preventer, a last-ditch safety mechanism that failed during the disaster. That decision ran counter to normal industry protocol, Mr. Lindner said, “and was made because BP could not easily dispose of the excess fluid any other way without violating environmental laws. “I remember seeing one e-mail from a BP mud specialist saying it would be O.K.,” he said, adding that the company’s environmental department had also approved the switch. Investigators from the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Regulation and Enforcement are holding the hearings. They began in May, resumed Monday after a two-month hiatus and are scheduled to continue through Friday.

Chief Engineer Outlines Rig’s Many Mechanical Issues

The rig’s chief engineer, Stephen R. Bertone, testified that the rig had had an array of mechanical problems in the months before the explosion, including sporadic power failures and failures of its underwater propeller. In a 2009 audit, Mr. Bertone said, BP ordered the rig to go to the shipyard by early 2011 for work on its engines, ballast systems, thrusters and drilling equipment.

Some Witnesses Skip Hearings

Several witnesses have failed to appear at the hearings. Donald Vidrine, a senior BP official aboard the Deepwater Horizon, who was scheduled to testify Tuesday, has twice canceled his appearance, citing medical problems. Wyman Wheeler, a tool pusher for Transocean, also canceled for medical reasons. Robert Kaluza, a BP well-site leader, exercised his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself by testifying. Tyrone Benton, a technician for Oceaneering, a subcontracted company, gave no reason for not showing up to testify on Monday.

Oil Production in Gulf Resumes

Marathon Oil began production from a deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, the first since the Obama administration halted deepwater drilling after the BP spill, Reuters reported Monday. Marathon’s well had already been drilled at the time of the spill. The government’s moratorium on offshore drilling allows some activity, including well completion, to continue. Marathon’s Droshky project is expected to produce about 50,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak.

jayboat and AppSysCons,

If that's not a clusterf*ck I don't know what is. Looks like BP did not do maintenance on the issues presented so the rig could do its work safely. Is the other BP deep water rig still operating? Hell they don't even have any paperwork on safety IIRC.

This is just sloppy operations and MMS should NEVER have let BP operate like this.

Remember, one side or another, can hire an 'expert' to support or tear down any argument or position.

This is just another version of "he said - she said", or another round of "pass the buck".

On natgeotv right now...

Just showed how they ignite the oil. They use two plastic jugs filled with diesel fuel and an igniter, all wrapped in duct tape. Hard to watch the sea burning.

NOAA has closed over 83,000 square miles of bays and estuaries to fishing.

BP doesnt own any rigs. No oil company own rigs, boats, trucks, tankers, or anything of that sort since Valdez.
BP contracted Transocean who is the largerst drilling rig owner in the united states.
Oil companies do not own any assets of that sort becasue of Valdez. if there is every an incident, if they cover their butt, they wont get and blame, it is the contracted party.
In this case BP did modifications to the Cameron built BOP and did not design the well properly. Transocean still drilled it. They could have said no.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ropical-storms

you should see the "leak" it is incredible

it is bubbles about the size of a quarter comming from a clamp, one every 5 seconds. the bull head will stop it