More about the FAIL at BP’s drilling site

The Q4000 burns off oil and gas in a huge flare at the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout site in the Gulf of Mexico July 10, 2010. BP is changing the device capturing oil from the leaking well and plans to have a new, more efficient device in place in seven days, though in the meantime oil is gushing unchecked from the well. UPI/A.J. Sisco. Photo via Newscom

BP Failed to Fix Device Before Blast, Worker Says

KENNER, La. — BP failed to fix a leak from a critical safety device in the days before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, a company official testified on Tuesday.

Drilling was allowed to continue despite a leak on a control pod connected to the blowout preventer, an emergency mechanism that failed to activate after the disaster, said the official, Ronald Sepulvado, a BP well site leader. He testified that he had expected BP officials in Houston and the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling, to respond to the leak, but they did not do so before the April 20 disaster.

There’s more from the NY Times.  According to the article, BP inspected the Deepwater Horizon site in 2009, but didn’t schedule a shipyard visit for the rig until 2011.   The realization that this disaster could have been completely avoidable with proper safety actions, actions left undone, is unfathomable to me.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 1:43 pmand is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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