BP rejected Halliburton cementing plans on Deepwater Horizon

BP apparently rejected advice of a subcontractor, Halliburton Inc., in preparing for a cementing job to close up the well. BP rejected Halliburton's recommendation to use 21 "centralizers" to make sure the casing ran down the center of the well bore. Instead, BP used six centralizers.

In an e-mail on April 16, a BP official involved in the decision explained: "It will take 10 hours to install them. I do not like this." Later that day, another official recognized the risks of proceeding with insufficient centralizers but commented: "who cares, it's done, end of story, will probably be fine."

A spokesman for BP could not immediately reached for comment.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/14/bp-engineer-called-doomed-rig-...

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Martin,


You just might be surprised to learn how many positive messages I receive concerning my rants.

I don't like politics on the main page either my friend, so go back and look at this thread and see if I was the one who started it. The next thing is, how come you called out Check on the political rants, and didn't include Gosh Darn. I'll tell you why? because you’re a freaking Hypocrite, that's why?

Next time let Check, and Gosh Darn fight out, and you just keep in the Out of Gas section where you belong.

Keep towing the line Martin, I know sooner or later you folks might get something right. Martin You have a great weekend, and stay out of trouble.
Dorcheated --

I'll do as I please, within the limits permitted by the site operator. Why should I call out Gosh Darn? He did seem to have the facts to support his arguments.

You might want to consider giving up calling people names...... it reeks of the elementary school play ground.

Have a great weekend yourself, sir!
I was a deepwater cementer for many years (not Halliburton) and worked for BP for 6 of them. I know several of the Horizon hands and was friends with one of the 11. This accident hits me on a personal level. I have to say that my BP experience was nearly all good. There were never any shortcuts or rushed jobs. We tracked lessons learned and used best practices at all times. I left deepwater 2 years ago. Obviously, things have changed.

There is so much misinformation coming at us, it's hard to separate fact from fiction. The centralizer issue has always been a fight between the cement company and operator. It's very important to center the csg in any hole and is harder to do in deviated sections. Computers use the directional data and csg properties to tell where to place the centralizers. Some drilling engineers take great pride in ignoring this advice. I've seen this with all oil companies. During a liner job, too many centralizers can hurt. Scraping the open hole walls too much can result in plugging the liner top during prejob circulation. That results in cementing with no returns... bad.

Getting off of the well before a bond log is run is not uncommon IF all the tests are good. That would be a 30 minute pressure test of the csg and a 30 minute negative test for a liner top. Any bad test and you DO NOT proceed. You fix the problem. If all tests are good, you can run a bond log & squeeze before completion.

The worst thing I heard about was the riser displacement. Replacing 5,000' of 14 ppg mud w/ 8.6 ppg seawater would have lightened the hydrostatic head by about 1400 psi. You have to have solid barriers in place before taking this step. Since they're regularly tested, we assume the BOP's will function when needed. History says nay, nay. That is why safe drilling practices must be followed. They're quite complex.

Most folks are turning this into a political mess, when it was mostly a couple of engineers trying to rush and look good to management.

I'm new to this site & hope I haven't rambled too much. Ya'll take care & have a great weekend.
Curt, welcome to this site, You sound like a person that knows what he is talking about when it comes to your job.
Curt - Thank you for your contribution. Condolences for the loss of your friend. Your "rambling" is helpful even if it went a little over the heads of some here (myself included), I understand the basics and will find a way to figure out the rest. Please post often as you see how you can help us understand.

80)
Thanks guys. Glad it helped.

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