BP attempts stop Deepwater Horizon oil leak as rig staff accuse company of taking fatal shortcuts
BP embarked upon high-risk “top kill” procedure using drilling mud last night to cap catastrophic gush of oil Gulf of Mexico, as it faced fresh accusations of shortcuts hours before an explosion destroyed Deepwater Horizon rig.
After hesitation by top BP executives as they analysed data robot submarines at the site the leak, under intense pressure the Obama administration, the US coastguard gave the go-ahead the operation pump cocktail mud heavy fluid at high pressure into the Macondo well, 50 miles off the Louisiana shore.
Underwater TV cameras showed live feed oil billowing out while BP’s heavy machinery moved into position. Chief executive Tony Hayward warned that the operation, never before attempted at depth 5,000 feet (1,500 metres), had only 60% 70% chance success and could take several days. Barack Obama described the disaster as “heartbreaking” and expressed hope it would work. “If it’s successful, and there’s no guarantee, it should greatly reduce or eliminate the flow oil now streaming into the Gulf the sea floor,” said the president.
After a boat trip see damage, Louisiana’s governor, Bobby Jindal, displayed vivid photos showing that oil was killing cane plants along state’s offshore marshes, an area which he described as “the nursery gulf”. “We’ve been fighting this oil nearly a month now, requesting resources. Too often, response has been too little, too late,” he said; absorbent booms capture oil were becoming saturated. “We can’t afford wait another 24, or 48 hours.”
The slick estimated cover 16,000 sq miles ocean, It began 20 April when an explosion and fire destroyed BP’s rig, killing 11 people. Since then efforts by BP stem flow, first by placing a dome top leak, have come nothing.
David Summers, professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said it would clear within days whether “top kill” procedure had worked. The method was straightforward and would have been started much earlier, were it not for inaccessibility, he said: “It’s relatively simple and been done many times before, not at this depth.”
In massive operation, 22,000 people and 1,100 vessels tackling slick. BP’s top executives monitoring events from control centre in Houston. But as investigations begin into cause, BP facing accusations of “short cuts” in hours before rig blew up.
In official hearings New Orleans, several workers who survived raised questions decision shortly before explosion which rig bosses displaced heavy mud with salt water pipe rising from seabed, potentially hampering rig’s ability withstand pressure from ocean depths.
At yesterday’s hearings Truitt Crawford, roustabout rig, told coastguard investigators: “I overheard upper management talking, saying that BP was taking shortcuts … this is it blew out.” Another witness, Doug Brown, chief mechanic rig, said there was “skirmish” between BP “company man”, driller and engineers: “The driller was outlining what would taking place, whereupon company man stood up and said ‘no, we’ll having some changes that’,” Brown said.
A memo given a congressional committee BP reveals events as workers prepared put a cement plug well preparation rig moved. Two hours before explosion, tests showed a buildup pressure – and subsequent decisions press ahead operation are under scrutiny. BP has pointed out that other firms were involved – it was leasing rig Transocean, which owned and operated it, while US firm Halliburton was responsible a cement plug.
A poll CBS News found 70% disapproval of BP’s handling, and 45% unhappy with Obama administration’s response. Interior secretary Ken Salazar described it as a “massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster″, and BP would liable for costs beyond a usual $75m (£52m) maximum liability for oil firms in clean-ups: “BP will held accountable for costs of government in responding spill and compensation for loss or damages.”
As shrimpers, fishermen and tourism industry workers along Louisiana coast see their livelihoods dwindle, BP has watched its share price slump 28%, wiping $84bn off its market value. Some 1,200 vessels and 22,000 people involved in effort temper scale of disaster.
The US agency overseeing oil companies also under intense criticism. An official report found that the Minerals Management Service allowed staff at oil gas firms fill inspection reports pencil, regulators later going over the answers ink.
Mary Kendall, acting inspector general at the department the interior, told congressional committee yesterday that there were problems “gift acceptance, fraternising industry pornography″ at the agency. She suggested there was problem the closeness ties between watchdogs industry executives: “The individuals involved the fraternising gift exchange – both government industry – have often known one another since childhood.”
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar