This article titled “BP cost-cutting blamed for ‘avoidable’ Deepwater Horizon oil spill” was written by Suzanne Goldenberg, for The Guardian on Thursday 6th January 2011 01.57 UTC

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was an avoidable disaster caused in part by a series of cost-cutting decisions made by BP and its partners, the White House oil commission has concluded.

In a preview of its final report, due next week, the national oil spill commission said systemic management failure at BP, Transocean, and Halliburton caused the blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico, and warned that such a disaster would likely recur because of industry complacency.

Many of the poor decisions taken on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig before the fatal blow-out on 20 April were taken to save time and money.

“Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time (and money),” the report said.

In a separate chart, it identified nine decisions that increased risk; seven of these saved the companies time. BP was involved in all nine decisions.

BP, which owned the well, did not enforce the proper controls to manage those increased risks, the report said. “BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure that key decisions in the months leading up to the blow-out were safe or sound from an engineering perspective.”

It continued on the same theme, concluding: “Most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can be traced back to a single overarching failure – a failure of management.”

In earlier pronouncements, the commission’s chairmen have suggested a culture of complacency ruled on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and in the oil industry.

“This disaster likely would not have happened had the companies involved been guided by an unrelenting commitment to safety first,” commission co-chairman Bob Graham, said in a statement. “And it likely would not have happened if the responsible governmental regulators had the capacity and will to demand world-class safety standards.”

On 11 January, the seven-member commission will publish its full report into the causes of the blow-out, which killed 11 men and spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf. Its findings could prove critical to the civil lawsuit filed last month by the US Justice Department against BP, Transocean and other companies involved in the spill for damages to the environment, as well as the hundreds of lawsuits filed by Gulf residents who have lost their livelihoods because of the spill.

The report warned that BP and the other companies could be liable for billions more in compensation to people who have lost money because of the oil spill, and for damage to natural resources.

The explosion was caused by a sudden kick of gas through the 5,000 ft riser pipe connecting the well to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that – another investigation found – went undetected for several crucial moments. The report identified a series of mistakes that, it said, eventually made the blow-out “inevitable.”

It paid particular attention to the faulty cementing job, performed by Halliburton, at the bottom of the well. But it blamed BP for failing to exercise proper oversight over the cementing job, and for misreading a pressure test that indicated the well had not been properly sealed.

“Based on evidence currently available, there is nothing to suggest that BP’s engineering team conducted a formal, disciplined analysis of the combined impact of these risk factors on the prospects for a successful cement job,” the report said.

It also criticised BP’s choice of a long string well design. BP crew were also wrong to replace heavy drilling mud in the riser pipe with lighter seawater before the well was properly sealed, the report said.

Transocean also came in for criticism for failing to communicate to its crew the risks of deepwater drilling even after a near-miss only months earlier.

BP said in a statement that it was working with government regulators to ensure that the experience in the Gulf led to improved practices.

Transocean tried to shift the blame to BP and government. “The procedures being conducted in the final hours were crafted and directed by BP engineers and approved in advance by federal regulators,” a company statement said.

Halliburton, which has previously criticised commission lab tests finding a faulty cement seal, said the commission had made use of selective information.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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This story is a perfect example of left-wing celebrities who live in their own privileged world and completely lose touch with reality.

Brad Pitt claims to have always been against the death penalty, but the BP oil spill in the gulf has made him reconsider.

Give me a break. Pitt doesn’t have the balls to kill terrorists, but would happily execute oil executives? What a joke. I wish this prick would stick to acting.

Time Magazine of all places is saying today that the BP oil spill may not be as bad as advertised. Scientists are not seeing the damage to wild life or the environment they had expected. Time even credits Rush Limbaugh for predicting the spill was being hyped.

The article is pretty interesting and I encourage everyone to read it.

BP has finally stopped the leak!! But don’t start celebrating yet, because a series of critical tests still remain. It’s possible the pressure could become so great that the well bursts a new leak somewhere else.

keep your fingers crossed.

“The Great One” Mark Levin rips Bill O’Reilly a new one over his defense of Obama’s bullying of BP. I completely agree with Mark on this one.

(image via Gateway Pundit)

It’s more than 1,200 words of Obama ass-kicking. Read it all.

(hat tip Conurls)

For the last couple of weeks the media has been squawking about Obama’s seeming inability to get red faced and angry at the oil companies. He just doesn’t “show enough emotion” is the line you frequently hear.

Clearly in response, President Obama decided to give us a sign that he is indeed angry at the oil companies.

Here’s the video (the relevant part begins at 1:16)

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He used the word “ass” on television so now we know he’s angry. Or at least that’s what we’re supposed to get from that.

The reality is that it looked contrived and made President Obama look foolish. It also demeaned the office.

I love how the media and politicians on both sides are screaming about Obama refusing to push BP aside and takeover the oil leak. The Obama administration isn’t known for being logical, but in this case they are.

The fact is if Obama took over the oil spill we would never get that well capped. BP has the most cutting edge equipment and the finest scientists and engineers on the face of the planet. When it comes to off-shore oil exploration and oil drilling BP is the authority.

It’s beyond idiotic to suggest that BP is somehow dragging its feet or not doing all it can to stop the leak. Nobody has a bigger interest in stopping that oil leak than BP. The oil industry itself is at stake. Short of the environment, no one has suffered more damage PR wise as a result of this than BP.

The Obama administration doesn’t have any of the equipment or the personnel to even do what BP has done up to this point. If BP can’t do it it’s because it can’t be done. When they come up with a way to cap the well they’ll cap it.

In the meantime Obama and his cronies should take their boot of BP’s neck and offer whatever assistance they can. There will be plenty of time for dog and pony show hearings and public floggings. Right now, all parties involved should be working together to find a solution to the problem and then get this thing cleaned up.

From the AP:

BP PLC said Wednesday that it had made a "giant" oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico but had not yet determined the size and commercial potential of the find.

The well, in Keathley Canyon block 102 about 250 miles (400 kms) southeast of Houston, is in 4,132 feet (1,259 meters) of water, the company said.

The Tiber well was drilled to a total depth of 35,055 feet (10,685 meters), making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled by the oil and gas industry, BP said.

I happen to live in Houston, and unlike the fools in California we like our drilling. Since we provide most of the country with energy, I think we should cut California off until they pull their weight. There are billions of barrels of oil off the coast of California, but eco-extremists and global warming nuts are keeping it from being drilled.