Will they fix that oil spill thingie or do they just wait....

[BeBMan]

Yeah, when will they learn?

[BeBMan]

I think it's clear now that this is a big oil conspiracy to deny Obama another term as pres.

[ricketyclik]

It looks like this one is part of a long-term pattern, with another party all together potentially to be brought in to the blame game:

What about our own oil spill shame?
by Andrew Dodd

There are some striking parallels between the calamity unfolding off the coast of Louisiana and an almost forgotten oil spill off the coast of north-west Australia last year.

The two incidents have been linked in US Congressional hearings, reinforcing evidence tendered at a recent Australian inquiry. Perhaps the most alarming link is that the same company, Halliburton, has been accused of stuffing up the crucial cementing on both wells. And there are suggestions that other wells in Australian waters may also be vulnerable.

Last August the Montara well off the Western Australian coast suffered a “blowout” and spilled oil into the Timor Sea for 106 days. Like the Gulf of Mexico, the Australian well proved very difficult to plug and the rig eventually caught fire. But mercifully no one died and less oil escaped. It was remote and the currents were favourable so there was less damage. Even so, it was Australia’s worst oil rig disaster.

An inquiry into the Montara spill has been conducted by federal bureaucrat David Borthwick, and his findings will be handed down next month.

Transcripts of evidence reveal that oil services company Halliburton was part of the team overseeing the complex cementing process on the Australian well. The team got the mixture wrong and the cement failed to set. In evidence the drilling supervisor, Noel Treasure, admitted there had been a “calculation error with respect to the volume of cement which was missed by everyone, the people in Perth, on the rig and the Halliburton guys doing the cementing. Everyone missed it.”

In the Gulf of Mexico, Halliburton has also been accused of failing to follow procedure. Two weeks ago, Congressman Bart Stupak told a House of Representatives committee:

“Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oil service companies, says that it had secured the well through a procedure called cementing, and that the well had passed a key pressure test, but we now know this is an incomplete account. The well did pass positive pressure tests, but there is evidence that it may not have passed crucial negative pressure tests.”

The government body that regulates oil drilling in the US is the Minerals Management Service. Its recently retired head of offshore regulation, Elmer Danenberger, linked the Montara and Gulf spills in congressional testimony earlier this month. He blamed the cementing process for these and several other spills.

He said “18 of 39 blowouts during the 15-year period from 1996 to 2006 involved cementing operations”. He called for the development of an industry standard to address cementing problems and concluded “in light of the findings from the Montara blow-out (Australia), and related concerns elsewhere, there is significant international interest in such a standard”.

Danenberger also sent a submission to the Montara Inquiry in Australia. Cementing was again a major focus.

“Based on the information that has been submitted to the commission, well bore integrity was compromised by deficiencies in the cementing of the 9 5/8” casing. Cementing problems are a leading cause of well control incidents”

Cementing isn’t the only problem. The Montara inquiry also heard testimony that the vital pressure containment caps, used to plug the well, were deficient and that the operator of the Montara Well — a company called PTT — failed to follow its own safety procedures. There was this alarming exchange between the counsel assisting the commissioner, Tom Howe, and Craig Duncan, the well construction manager for PTT.

HOWE: So it seems as though, in terms of compliance with PTT’s own well construction standards, the situation is that not a single well is compliant?
DUNCAN: Given that we didn’t test those corrosion caps, no.
HOWE: Do you mean you agree with me?
DUNCAN:Yes.

If this is the case, shouldn’t several other wells in the Timor Sea undergo urgent safety audits?

The Montara inquiry should be receiving much more scrutiny. It is not only yielding the answers to the worst oil rig disaster in Australian history, it might also be providing valuable clues to the causes of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico — perhaps the worst oil rig disaster in history.

[Frozzy]

Why is it always Halliburton that pops up in these stories?

A Halliburton PR man has to be the worst job in the world. Anyone who can give that company a good community image needs a job in Zanu-PF or the post office.

[MOBIUS]

Apparently the soonest they can get the relief wells in is August.

Must suck to be the most powerful nation in the world and stand uselessly by as vast swathes of your coastline get polluted for months on end.

[Guynemer]

So, given that we're all boned, and this **** is going to continue to foul the Gulf until August (at the earliest!), and will apparently get worse before it gets better once they trim that pipe, I have a question.

Why haven't any of the principals in this--BP execs, Halliburton execs, the company that made the faulty equipment, the administration, etc. etc. etc.--fallen on their swords? And I mean that literally: why haven't any of these jackholes taken down the sword (that you know they have) above their fireplace in their estate, handed it to their butler or valet, and fallen upon it, Brutus-style? I'd also grudgingly accept a blunderbuss to the face.

[Garth Vader]

Haha, this is the US, they aren't supposed to face any kind of responsibility for their actions.

[ricketyclik]

Absolutely not. They're heroes. They've maximised their earnings, which I understand is what it's all about in the US.

[Wezil]

They'll all retire millionaires.

Let the good times roll.

[Heraclitus]

America grow some balls and nuke the oil well! I mean it worked in Armagedon and Core.

[MOBIUS]

Absolutely not. They're heroes. They've maximised their earnings, which I understand is what it's all about in the US.

In the UK they'd be given knighthoods as well.

[DanS]

Why is it always Halliburton that pops up in these stories?

A Halliburton PR man has to be the worst job in the world. Anyone who can give that company a good community image needs a job in Zanu-PF or the post office.

It's political. From my experiences interacting with them, I have known Halliburton to be a smart, professional outfit that, if anything, overengineers for the job.

[DanS]

Looks like BP could get a substantial portion of its business impacted by the spill. It wouldn't surprise me to see the government seizing assets (one way or another) for compensation.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Looks like BP could get a substantial portion of its business impacted by the spill. It wouldn't surprise me to see the government seizing assets (one way or another) for compensation.

Never letting a good crisis go to waste, Robert Reich proposes

It’s time for the federal government to put BP under temporary receivership, which gives the government authority to take over BP’s operations in the Gulf of Mexico until the gusher is stopped. This is the only way the public know what’s going on, be confident enough resources are being put to stopping the gusher, ensure BP’s strategy is correct, know the government has enough clout to force BP to use a different one if necessary, and be sure the President is ultimately in charge.

WTF is "temporary" receivership?

[MrFun]

So, given that we're all boned, and this **** is going to continue to foul the Gulf until August (at the earliest!), and will apparently get worse before it gets better once they trim that pipe, I have a question.

Why haven't any of the principals in this--BP execs, Halliburton execs, the company that made the faulty equipment, the administration, etc. etc. etc.--fallen on their swords? And I mean that literally: why haven't any of these jackholes taken down the sword (that you know they have) above their fireplace in their estate, handed it to their butler or valet, and fallen upon it, Brutus-style? I'd also grudgingly accept a blunderbuss to the face.

Actually, I'd like to douse the executives at BP with their own oil, then lock them in a room with a psycho arsonist.