[QUOTE=Observer;35581]Where? I’ve seen a number of non-moving plumes when the ROVs have been inspecting their work area, but I don’t see anything plume like in Alvis’ screenshot.[/QUOTE]
They have laid mats down around the casing for about 40’-50’ around the well. When the ROV backs out you can see what looks like an oil plume coming out around the base of the mats. I’m not talking about the backwash around the immediate area of the ROV.
[QUOTE=company man 1;35583]When someone say that it usually means they have someone’s hand stuck up their behind & they’re just the wooden part of a ventriliquist’s act. You should have taken scissors & cut the strings attached to him & watch him collapse in a heap.[/QUOTE]
Another good one:
A persons balls grow proportionally to their distance from the rotary table.
[QUOTE=company man 1;35585]They have laid mats down around the casing for about 40’-50’ around the well. When the ROV backs out you can see what looks like an oil plume coming out around the base of the mats. I’m not talking about the backwash around the immediate area of the ROV.[/QUOTE]
There is definitely oil coming out of one side of the casing. No doubt about it.
It looks like one of the casing valves is leaking some. It also looks like oil is coming out of the ground, around the base of the stack & somewhere on the BOPs. Can’t tell where but it’s coming out like at a hell of a rate. [QUOTE=company man 1;35587]There is definitely oil coming out of one side of the casing. No doubt about it.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=company man 1;35562]No one is defending the company man for the umpteenth time. No one except prescious few are isolating all the blame to him either. Calls were made from the beach to prematurely dispace some 3300’ of mud with seawater before even performing negative tests. Considering the company man kept the schlumberger hands on the rig fir 4 days after running the open hole logs, until after these orders came, I doubt he gave the orders to send them in but rather carried them out. This means someone in Houston elected not to run a CBL & dispace with 3300’ of seawater. This means there was more than one person involved in the displacement decision. Whoever was in Houston came under the head of the drilling & engineering group. Since Tony Hayward was appointed the first vice president over BP/AMOCO & has had total control & therefore total responsility for its drilling/ production operations ever since, one would assume if there was one or more rogue hands running amuck within the company, that eleven years would have been sufficient time to remove them.
This disaster is not an isolated incident, but rather the most deadly, most environmentally damaging, most obvious case of negligence in a long line of negligent acts that have been conjured up by BP staff at the highest levels that many people until now don’t even know has occured. Having said this, I will ask you again How can this company ever be trusted to drill. produce, or refine in the United States ever again ? Because they give their word they’ll do better next time ?[/QUOTE]
BP’s procedures are quite clear. Two barriers exist in any well. If you are instructed by a ‘Cowboy’ to take a chance on one unproven barrier then you also become a ‘Cowboy’. Over a period of time this multiplies to include half of your company, and exports itself to Operators on other rigs. The system goes on and on, with people turning a blind eye, often because their bonus may be compromised! What am I getting at? What has happened to the industry in the GOM? To all operators? The culture allows for short cuts. There has to be Government controls on all Operators.
You can deny this, but at some point you are going to have to accept that BP company procedures were not being adhered to in the GOM.
The Company Man interpreted the Test results incorrectly.
Simply put, when you pressure test, a precise volume of fluid is required to pressure up from 0 to 5000 psi. If this volume is incorrect and the cementer tells you of this fact then you are an Ass, and I mean major Donkey, with very large ears!!! To convince me that you’re not another Donkey, you must accept that there are certain things out of the hands of the BP CEO. He simply is not God.
In my job I tell the crew that I take responsibility for my own actions, right or wrong, but I respect the input of each and every man on the rig. I also accept that they have responsibilities to themselves and the company to make excellent decisions at work and to seek advice when required. None are Donkeys! Why? Because, they all have independent minds prepared to offer an opinion. I take full responsibility for any bad decisions, and would expect to be sacked because of them. I am not prepared to blame anyone onshore for my cock-ups. The buck stops with me.
Does it stop with you? It appears as if you constantly blame others for your situations, and that you are ‘above’ them, so you quit jobs etc…
Bottom line: I blow up a rig, don’t blame my CEO. Come get me.
[QUOTE=company man 1;35577]I don’t know about the rest of you guys but I hate getting the feeling I’m being lied to every single day. These people need to let us know the results of what hey found in the bent riser, why they laid the mats down AFTER the top kill & junk shot attempt, If they have blown out the surface casing. This lack of disclosure is pure bullshit. Do these people think they can continue to hide these things form us for forever ?[/QUOTE]
No-one’s lieing. MMS knew when licences were issued to develop and explore in the GOM that if an uncontrolled blowout occurred in the GOM the only means to deal with it was through a relief well. The number of people who don’t understand this fact is startling. They include, Obama, Co Man 1, etc…
Everything else is about trying to contain the loss. Everyone feels that BP have been dilly-dallying about!! Fact is that they knew from day one that if they attempted to shut in the well they may get weaknesses developing between the casing strings resulting in greater losses.
I’m really sorry for all those affected by this environmental catastrophe, and even more for the families of those lost souls. But, someone has to realise that this major disaster is not the first and won’t be the last to afflict mankind or marinekind. Our thirst for oil will not be abated.
But, we have to be more objective about the facts. BP will pay the bill because their employee, the Co Man, decided to threaten everyone’s lives on that rig. There’s no-one else to look for.
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who wish to blame others for the situation they find themselves in and those who stand up and say ‘shoot me, I screwed up’. What kind of person would you teach your kids to be? Responsible or pathetic?
[QUOTE=alcor;35590]BP’s procedures are quite clear. Two barriers exist in any well. If you are instructed by a ‘Cowboy’ to take a chance on one unproven barrier then you also become a ‘Cowboy’. Over a period of time this multiplies to include half of your company, and exports itself to Operators on other rigs. The system goes on and on, with people turning a blind eye, often because their bonus may be compromised! What am I getting at? What has happened to the industry in the GOM? To all operators? The culture allows for short cuts. There has to be Government controls on all Operators.
You can deny this, but at some point you are going to have to accept that BP company procedures were not being adhered to in the GOM.
The Company Man interpreted the Test results incorrectly.
Simply put, when you pressure test, a precise volume of fluid is required to pressure up from 0 to 5000 psi. If this volume is incorrect and the cementer tells you of this fact then you are an Ass, and I mean major Donkey, with very large ears!!! To convince me that you’re not another Donkey, you must accept that there are certain things out of the hands of the BP CEO. He simply is not God.
In my job I tell the crew that I take responsibility for my own actions, right or wrong, but I respect the input of each and every man on the rig. I also accept that they have responsibilities to themselves and the company to make excellent decisions at work and to seek advice when required. None are Donkeys! Why? Because, they all have independent minds prepared to offer an opinion. I take full responsibility for any bad decisions, and would expect to be sacked because of them. I am not prepared to blame anyone onshore for my cock-ups. The buck stops with me.
Does it stop with you? It appears as if you constantly blame others for your situations, and that you are ‘above’ them, so you quit jobs etc…
Bottom line: I blow up a rig, don’t blame my CEO. Come get me.[/QUOTE]
You still in a fight pickin mood ? The buck does not stop with me. I have a boss just like the engineer/engineers I work for have bosses & so on. However, I will stop the buck if it compromises someone’s safety or doing a job properly. If you are near the guy you say & you haven’t had the balls to walk off a job when the person above you is a big enough prick to try to get you to do something dangerous & stupid then you’re just running your mouth & seeking attention. In 95 % of the jobs I do I don’t have such issues. In the other 5 % I start off diplomatically as lies within me to let the real shot callers know if they are calling the wrong shots, if they don’t listen I become a little more forceful, if they still won’t listen & insist we proceed, I shut the job down & let them know I shut the job down & why I shut the job down. If you’ve never ever had to do this then don’t talk to me about how big your balls are mister. The fact that I am man enough to admit I work at someone else’s liesure is proof I don’t lie.
Do you mind telling someone what you do anyway? It sounds like you are suffering from guilt of a job gone wrong in the past.
[QUOTE=company man 1;35593]You still in a fight pickin mood ? The buck does not stop with me. I have a boss just like the engineer/engineers I work for have bosses & so on. However, I will stop the buck if it compromises someone’s safety or doing a job properly. If you are near the guy you say & you haven’t had the balls to walk off a job when the person above you is a big enough prick to try to get you to do something dangerous & stupid then you’re just running your mouth & seeking attention. In 95 % of the jobs I do I don’t have such issues. In the other 5 % I start off diplomatically as lies within me to let the real shot callers know if they are calling the wrong shots, if they don’t listen I become a little more forceful, if they still won’t listen & insist we proceed, I shut the job down & let them know I shut the job down. If you’ve never ever had to do this then don’t talk to me about how big your balls are mister. The fact that I am man enough to admit I work at someone else’s liesure is proof I don’t lie.[/QUOTE]
Some blame others. Some accept the blame. I don’t blame my superiors for actions I have taken. It appears you do. All I’m saying is: have the balls to be responsible for your actions. Don’t blame your absent boss!
[QUOTE=alcor;35594]Some blame others. Some accept the blame. I don’t blame my superiors for actions I have taken. It appears you do. All I’m saying is: have the balls to be responsible for your actions. Don’t blame your absent boss![/QUOTE] I don’t blame others because I don’t put others in a position to have to play the blame game. I never met a man or had a boss or worker, myself included, who had to apologize for doing the right thing & for doing the safe thing. I have seen plenty who had to apologize for doing the wrong thing, if they lived to apologize.
[QUOTE=company man 1;35593]You still in a fight pickin mood ? The buck does not stop with me. I have a boss just like the engineer/engineers I work for have bosses & so on. However, I will stop the buck if it compromises someone’s safety or doing a job properly. If you are near the guy you say & you haven’t had the balls to walk off a job when the person above you is a big enough prick to try to get you to do something dangerous & stupid then you’re just running your mouth & seeking attention. In 95 % of the jobs I do I don’t have such issues. In the other 5 % I start off diplomatically as lies within me to let the real shot callers know if they are calling the wrong shots, if they don’t listen I become a little more forceful, if they still won’t listen & insist we proceed, I shut the job down & let them know I shut the job down & why I shut the job down. If you’ve never ever had to do this then don’t talk to me about how big your balls are mister. The fact that I am man enough to admit I work at someone else’s liesure is proof I don’t lie.
Do you mind telling someone what you do anyway? It sounds like you are suffering from guilt of a job gone wrong in the past.[/QUOTE]
You better not tell the offshore crews that you’re waiting for instructions from town in the case of emergencies. Have the balls to make good decisions based on knowledge and not chance.
[QUOTE=company man 1;35595]I don’t blame others because I don’t put others in a position to have to play the blame game. I never met a man or had a boss or worker, myself included, who had to apologize for doing the right thing & for doing the safe thing. I have seen plenty who had to apologize for doing the wrong thing, if they lived to apologize.[/QUOTE]
I think you’re slightly prone to dramatic effect and definitely misunderstanding the responsibility you have offshore. You need a calmer demeanor. Confidence is a pre-requisite in this business, confidence to make good decisions based on the cousel of others around you. It’s really simple. If you truly understand your job you are not frightened to make decisions. A driller has to make these decisions all day long on the brake, or in his chair!!!
Get the balls to accept responsibility. Tony’s accepted his. Now, let’s get the guy who didn’t give a shit about the other personnel on the rig, the co man.
[QUOTE=alcor;35592]But, we have to be more objective about the facts. BP will pay the bill because their employee, the Co Man, decided to threaten everyone’s lives on that rig. There’s no-one else to look for.
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who wish to blame others for the situation they find themselves in and those who stand up and say ‘shoot me, I screwed up’. What kind of person would you teach your kids to be? Responsible or pathetic?[/QUOTE]
If you do something stupid enough to blow up a rig and 11 people then I will also blame whoever was stupid enough to put you in charge.
[QUOTE=alvis;35561]What are these taps used for that are located below the well head?
[ATTACH]952[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
I have attached 2x pics. Do you see anything Familiar?
They are side outlets run with the 36" Conductor at the start of the well, and used to keep cement away from the Low Pressure 36" Housing. They will have been there since day 1.[ATTACH=CONFIG]955[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]956[/ATTACH]
Edit: My bad. 30" should have been 36".
[QUOTE=jmccaski;35475]What an old fossil… Wait! I’m 67! And I’ve been in the middle of and responsible for successful offshore MPD operations in the North Sea in highly depleted reservoirs… Damn, I must be too old to do that stuff. I’ll quit it now.[/QUOTE]
Don’t quit yet… the industry does need you!
Remember I said that these were news reports. So I can’t vouch for their accuracy. I wasn’t pointing to the “age” related info.
How about a rewording…
Given the fact that Mr Vidrine has likely been in the oil industry for some time “news reports quote him to be of elderly years”, AND the reported news fact that he had made a statement to US officials…“blah blah… I have limited offshore experience… blah blah… I came here to learn about deep water drilling…”
Would it not suggest to you, or make you think, that this guy had spent a long period of his career on land wells?
and also, perhaps… was he now working in a position beyond his capabilities?
[I]“He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense. [/I]
[I]An artist is a man of action, whether he creates a personality, invents an expedient, or finds the issue of a complicated situation. [/I]
[I]Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it.[/I]
[I]In order to move others deeply we must deliberately allow ourselves to be carried away beyond the bounds of our normal sensibility. [/I]
[I]It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog. [/I]
[I]A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.[/I]
[I]Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending. [/I]
[I]It is not down in any map; true places never are. [/I]
[I]There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath. [/I]
[I]Know, thou, that the lines that live are turned out of a furrowed brow[/I]
[I][FONT=Georgia]There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes his whole universe for a vast practical joke.” [/I][/FONT]
~ excerpts from Herman Melville, for [U]thar she blows[/U] … pardon me this interruption.
[B]Senator Nelson[/B] interviewed yesterday, June 7, 2010
Born 1942, Bill Nelson is the senior U.S. Senator from Florida. Nelson and a Democrat. In '86, he became the 2nd sitting member of the United States Congress to fly in space, as a Payload Specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Nelson was born in Miami. He spent his formative years in Melbourne, Florida. He attended the University of Florida for several years, then transferred to Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1965. In 1968, he received his law degree from the University of Virginia.
In college, Nelson was enrolled in ROTC. In 1965, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve; he served on active duty from 1968 to 1970, attaining the rank of captain. He remained in the Army until 1971. Nelson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. He served in the U.S. House from 1979 to 1991.
In 1986, Nelson became the second sitting member of Congress (and the first member of the House) to travel into space. He went through NASA training with Senator Jake Garn of Utah. He was a Payload Specialist on Space Shuttle Columbia’s STS-61-C mission from January 12–18. Ten days after his return, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off.
[B]Andrea Mitchell[/B], interviewer Role in the Plame Affair
A report in The Washington Post (“Bush Administration Is Focus of Inquiry CIA Agent’s Identity Was Leaked to Media” by Mike Allen and Dana Priest, Washington Post, September 28, 2003), that Mitchell was an original recipient of the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity led to her being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the case. While Mitchell never appeared before the grand jury in the indictment or in the trial of I. Lewis Libby, she was on the subpoena list as a person of interest. In October 2003, on the Capitol Report, Mitchell made a statement which Libby’s defense construed to mean that it was widely known among journalists that Joe Wilson’s wife was in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a statement that she later recanted.
MURRAY: [I]And the second question is: Do we have any idea how widely known it was in Washington that Joe Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA?[/I]
MITCHELL: [I]It was widely known amongst those of us who cover the intelligence community and who were actively engaged in trying to track down who among the foreign service community was the envoy to Niger. But frankly I wasn’t aware of her actual role at the CIA and the fact that she had a covert role involving weapons of mass destruction, not until Bob Novak wrote it.[/I]
During a news conference in Khartoum in July, 2005, Mitchell was forcibly ejected from a room after asking Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir some pointed questions. They included: “Can you tell us why the violence is continuing?” (referring to genocide in Sudan’s Darfur province) and “Can you tell us why the government is supporting the militias?” “Why should Americans believe your promises?” At this point two armed security guards grabbed her and forcibly shoved her out of the room.
Mitchell was born in New York City, New York She married her second husband, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in 1997
~Information above is from current wikipedia
Please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.
[QUOTE=alcor;35597]I think you’re slightly prone to dramatic effect and definitely misunderstanding the responsibility you have offshore. You need a calmer demeanor. Confidence is a pre-requisite in this business, confidence to make good decisions based on the cousel of others around you. It’s really simple. If you truly understand your job you are not frightened to make decisions. A driller has to make these decisions all day long on the brake, or in his chair!!!
[B]Get the balls to accept responsibility. Tony’s accepted his. Now, let’s get the guy who didn’t give a shit about the other personnel on the rig, the co man.[/B][/QUOTE]
Hasn’t it already been shown that the Company Man deviated from regular procedures to plug the well in because of orders from his superiors on land? Now, you’re saying he didn’t give a shit about his workers. I’m sure had he known what was gonna happen he would not have done it the way he was ordered to. Maybe he did as told and hoped it would all work out and he would still have his job?
At this link you will find a link to download a pdf file (at the end of the fourth paragraph). It is purported that the pdf is an early-stage investigation document. I’ve read it and found it very interesting. I’d love some feedback from the drilling experts here.
http://bit.ly/c64Eor
[QUOTE=RiverPirate;35603]Hasn’t it already been shown that the Company Man deviated from regular procedures to plug the well in because of orders from his superiors on land? Now, you’re saying he didn’t give a shit about his workers. I’m sure had he known what was gonna happen he would not have done it the way he was ordered to. Maybe he did as told and hoped it would all work out and he would still have his job?[/QUOTE]
You can’t win with Alcor. Either you fall on your sword because you did something totally stupid as told to you by your superiors. Or your some kind of a blame throwing coward who’s afraid to watch his guys march to their deaths. He is the one who has thrown out the cowboy mentality about 100 times & yet says he takes all the responsibility all the time no matter what. I know that’s bullshit & so does anyone else that’s worked in the field in the last 15 years. Their have been those who understand how things work that realize the man on loacation doesn’t make the calls, he carries out the calls. He’s supposed to have enough sense to realize when the calls being made by his superiors will land everyone in trouble. To do this he needs to have a good established working relationship with his drillcrews, since they are his eyes & ears. It does not appear to me as though anyone had a good trustworthy working relationship on this location.How could that be ? I can give you a prime example. This morning I recieved another call . BP wants little old me to feel privilaged enough to work for big old them. The only problem is they want me to drop my corporate status, work as a direct employee for the firm representing me. Take a $200+ /day pay cut, & agree that at anytime after hiring me they can then force the company I invoice through to cut me immedieately without compensation. They love my credentials. Well they should since I earned my stripes fixing their F>>> ups. Those are the rules & they are non-negotiable. Guess what BP, you can sit on it & rotate. That’s why they will end up right where they are now, again. That’s why they had this disaster to begin with the European mentality of the Lord & servant that still permeates every European run company I’ve seen. There are the PHDs that Rlanasa bragged about & the fact that no real working people were allowed to be in the genius room , & there is the servitude. The little people who don’t really count & have a certain price tag on their heads. That is exactly the way these people look at it & if you haven’t worked for a company like that then you should because that’s the way they think & the only way to get ahead with a company like that is to be the best ass kisser in the group. And the best ass kisser dopesn’t too often go hand in hand with the person who’s looking out for everybody’s safety & welfare.
Edit: Now you can accuse me of foreign bashing.
[QUOTE=bnhpr;35579]the reason BP took the idea of killing the well with a second BOP “off the table” tells me they know where the failure is and realize that bull heading will redirect to blowout around the conductor/wellhead.
So, even if the BOP did shut it in, it may have saved the rig, but the environmental impacts could have/would have been the same…[/QUOTE]
No, not necessarily. IF the BOP had shut in, and IF the EDS had been able to function, maybe the riser wouldn’t have collapsed and beaten up the BOP and wellhead as it did so.
Hi folks,
Seems like some of these arguments about whether or not standard operating procedures (SOPs) were followed can be solved by actually taking at the relevent procedures. Can people post links to the relevent drilling / cementing / displacement of mud with seawater SOPs / bridging documents from BP, Transocean and Halliburton. More generally, does anyone have a copy of BPs Safety Case for drilling of Macondo (or whatever the US equivalent is, I know you guys don’t have SC legislation in the GoM like the North Sea and Australia). Or the Environment Plan. Alternatively email documents to nattyjammin@gmail.com
Your assistance will result in greater scrutiny of the companies involved and hopefulyl lead to improvements in future.
Many thanks.