Trapped, buckled drill pipe stopped Macondo well blowout preventer from closing, investigators find

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Still No Tests On BP's Blowout Preventer

300-Ton Device Raised From Gulf Floor 1 Month Ago

HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer

Posted: 6:22 pm EDT October 6, 2010
Updated: 7:22 pm EDT October 6, 2010
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METAIRIE, La. -- The 300-ton device that failed to stop the massive Gulf oil spill - considered a key piece of evidence in the investigation into the disaster - has not been analyzed a month after it was raised from the seafloor, a Coast Guard official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The government had told a federal judge that necessary equipment would be procured and sufficient space for the blowout preventer would be constructed so the examination could begin on Oct. 1. But the analysis has yet to begin because officials are still waiting for testing procedures to be approved, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Suzanne Kerver told the AP.

The delay could prolong the work of a federal panel investigating the cause of the oil rig explosion and the spill it triggered. A multi-agency government investigative team has the final say on the testing techniques, according to court records.

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Testing of blowout preventer is being mishandled, federal board says

Testing of blowout preventer is being mishandled, federal board says

Testing of blowout preventer is being mishandled, federal board says

Published: Thursday, December 23, 2010, 9:30 PM

A federal board allowed to monitor testing of a key piece of Gulf oil spill evidence -- the blowout preventer -- demanded Thursday that the analysis stop, saying representatives of the companies that made and maintained the 300-ton device have been getting preferential and sometimes hands-on access to it.

Ted Jackson, The Times-PicauneThe BP blowout preventer is lashed to a barge docked at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans in September. <!-- IE6 HACK --><!-- IE6 HACK -->

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said in a letter to the head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement that having the companies involved hands-on in the forensic analysis that began more than a month ago undermines the investigation's credibility.

An employee of Transocean -- the owner of the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf -- has been removed as a consultant for the Norwegian firm conducting the testing, but the ocean energy bureau says that otherwise the companies have provided their expertise appropriately. The board claims conflicts still exist.

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http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/12/testing_of_blowout_preventer_i.html

 

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Source: Tests On Blowout Preventer Complete

Source: Tests On Blowout Preventer Complete

Source: Tests On Blowout Preventer Complete

AP Reports Results Could Be Released This Week

POSTED: 4:34 pm CDT March 21, 2011
UPDATED: 4:39 pm CDT March 21, 2011

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal official said on Monday that the firm hired to test a key piece of equipment to determine why it didn't stop last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill has submitted its results to government investigators.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to disclose the information publicly. The official said the government is reviewing results of the blowout preventer tests and may release them later this week.

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http://www.wdsu.com/news/27268179/detail.html

 

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Trapped, buckled drill pipe stopped Macondo well blowout preventer from closing, investigators find

Trapped, buckled drill pipe stopped Macondo well blowout preventer from closing, investigators find

Published: Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 11:07 AM Updated: Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 1:36 PM

By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune

A drill pipe got trapped and buckled in the device that was supposed to stop BP's Macondo well from blowing out last year, preventing some mechanisms from closing as they should have, a report released by federal investigators said.

The report is by forensic investigators from Det Norske Veritas, the Norwegian company hired by the U.S. government to analyze the four-story-tall blowout preventer.

The blowout preventer, or BOP, is supposed to use a series of rams, valves and sheering blades to close in a subsea well if oil and gas starts spewing out of it. At Macondo, it sat on the well head, nearly a mile below the Deepwater Horizon rig, where a drill pipe entered the top of a 3-mile-deep well hole.

The BOP is meant to be the last line of defense, but it failed to stop the massive flow of oil when the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up last April 20.

More...
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/03/trapped_buckled_drill_pipe_sto.html

 

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Re: Trapped, buckled drill pipe stopped Macondo well blowout preventer from closing, investigators find

Blowout preventer may have never had a chance against Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Published: Sunday, April 03, 2011, 7:00 AM

By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune


Excerpt:

Marine Board hearings begin Monday in Metairie

When the authors of the report from Norway-based Det Norske Veritas come to the Marine Board of Investigation hearings starting Monday in Metairie, they, along with specialists from rig owner Transocean and BOP manufacturer Cameron International, are sure to face tough questions about whether any blowout preventer could have overcome the forces at BP's Macondo well.

Yes, Transocean's crew members missed warnings signs. Yes, key systems in the Deepwater Horizon's BOP were in disrepair, which probably kept it from shutting in the spewing well and disconnecting from the burning rig right after the explosions on April 20, 2010. But within days, scientists in Houston armed with remote-control submarines hovering 50 miles off the coast of Venice and a mile below the listing rig were able to activate critical BOP functions. Their intervention should have limited the spill to a relative puddle.

Instead, the spill became the worst in U.S. history because, as Transocean said after Det Norske Veritas' autopsy was released, "conditions ... exceeded the scope of BOP's design parameters."

In other words, the report suggests that the Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer -- and, by inference, all blowout preventers being used by all rigs drilling deep, dangerous wells -- never had a chance.

Full text:
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