Pressure to save time, money may have contributed to oil disaster

[maddezmom]

By Steven Mufson
Tuesday, May 25, 2010; 11:37 AM

When it comes to offshore oil drilling, time isn't just money. It's a whole lot of money.

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Time worries weren't the exclusive province of BP. In a 2006 trade journal, Transocean and General Electric engineers wrote about how to save time on blowout preventer tests by leaving test valves in place. At a conference in 2009, a Halliburton official spoke about how to get cement to set faster. And in a conference call last August, Transocean's chief executive was grilled by investment analysts to explain how time lost because of rig accidents and blowout preventer problems had cut into profits.


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Concerns about time -- and money -- might also explain the installation of a test valve in the Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer. In a 2004 letter, Transocean and BP agreed to substitute a test valve for one of three variable bore rams capable of pinching off oil flow in a blowout -- while acknowledging that the substitution would reduce redundancy and increase risk.

An article in the November/December 2006 issue of "Drilling Contractor" notes that "vitally important tests" of blowout preventers "carry a considerable cost in terms of rig time spent conducting the test, particularly in deepwater." The article, written by Gary Leach of Transocean and Bob Judge, chief engineer of Hydril, a GE unit that makes blowout preventers, said "substantial savings" were possible by leaving a test valve on the blowout preventer and turning it upside down to avoid having to withdraw pipe for testing. They said companies could save 12.5 hours or $260,000 of rig time with each test.

Yet BP recently told congressional investigators that it lost a precious day of time when it was trying to activate the blowout preventer after the accident; BP was baffled by the test valve's connections to the control panel.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/25/AR2010052502293_2.html?sid=ST2010052404233

[SPedigrees]

1. My immediate reaction to this headline is "no! ya think!?"

GREED would describe it best.

[90-percent]

2. my comments

"If you don't get the job done when I want it done, I'll find somebody who can"

This has been the prevailing management philosophy in corporate America for, what, 200 years so far?

All of us "at will" employees are free to quit our jobs and go to work for an employer we like better. Not that there's a lot of "good employers" out there these days.

Working life in much of modern America is nothing more than economic servitude.

WE ARE ALL CORPORATE SERFS NOW!

-90% Jimmy

[OllieLotte]

3. There is no doubt that attempting to save time (money)

was the critical factor in this mess.

They were in a hurry and broke the original bit and had to drill in a new spot. The blowout preventer was not in 100% working order and they decided not to repair/replace it. They drilled faster than they normally would have and didn't keep "mud" on the shaft to keep it from blowing out.

I don't object to cutting a few corners now and then. But jeez, when you do this kind of crap, sooner or later it's going to bite you. It's not like they were baking a cake and if it doesn't turn out, you throw it out and start all over again.

So what's with the government using this as an excuse to raise taxes on gas? I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for the cleanup and neither does Obama. They just want to grab more of our money and throw at something.