Oil Rig Worker: Blowout Preventer was Leaking - CBS

[WillyT]

LONDON, June 21, 2010
Oil Rig Worker: Blowout Preventer was Leaking
Deepwater Horizon Worker says He Reported Leak on Crucial Emergency Shutoff Valve, But Company Kept Pumping

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(CBS/AP) A Deepwater Horizon worker has told the BBC he warned BP and its partners weeks ahead of the catastrophic explosion aboard the Gulf of Mexico oil rig that a crucial piece of hardware on the sea floor was leaking. Tyrone Benton, who operates underwater robots that do the actual work on the complex, giant machinery a mile underwater, says one of the robot's cameras spotted a leak on a control pod of the blowout preventer (BOP).

The BOP is essentially the emergency shutoff valve fixed permanently to a wellhead on the seafloor. The Deepwater Horizon's BOP is as tall as a house and the control pods, of which this rig had at least two, are the brains of the machinery - a combination of mechanics and electronics.

"We saw a leak on the pod, so by seeing the leak we informed the company men," Benton told the BBC in an interview for its investigative program "Panorama," which airs Monday night. He said his supervisors told BP and the company in charge of the BOP, Transocean, and their management teams made the decision to shut down the leaking control pod and rely solely on another, meant as backup. "They have a control room where they could turn off that pod and turn on the other one, so that they don't have to stop production," Benton told the BBC's Hillary Anderson.

One expert on ocean oil drilling from the University of Texas called the decision to keep the BOP operating after the discovery of the leak "unacceptable." "If you see any evidence of the blowout preventer not functioning properly, you should fix it by whatever means possible," professor Tad Patzek told the BBC for its report.

The decision appears to have been made to save money. Shutting down the entire BOP would have meant a complete halt to Deepwater Horizon's work - at a time when the BBC says BP was spending $500,000 every day to keep it running.

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More: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/21/national/main6602878.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FromTheRoadCBSNews+%28From+The+Road%3A+CBSNews.com%29

:mad:

:kick:

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I wonder how BP will get this guy to change his story....

[indepat]

2. OMFG, should those BP execs have sold (dumped) a load of BP shares after BP was apprised of the

leak, such might be deemed selling on material inside information: in that case, one's ass would be grass and the SEC (or its counterpart) might be a giant lawn-mower. :P

Edited to add have

[gateley]

3. Is this the guy who was on CNN last night?

I wonder why MSNBC wasn't all over this today. :shrug:

[WillyT]

4. BBC Videos Here:

Rig worker: Fault found earlier - http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8750000/8750800.stm

Rig survivor: 'It was a crematorium' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8751000/8751392.stm

:kick:

[janedum]

5. That's what happens when EVERYTHING WE USE is "made in china" .. CHEAP!!