BP Employee Claims That BP Is Lying, And That Key Test On Oil Rig Was Never Performed

[sabra]

Source: Business Insider/Mother Jones

Tony Buzbee, the Houston lawyer who's gunning after BP, is coming out saying that he has evidence that "casts doubt" on BP's
claim that the negative pressure test, a routine safety procedure, was successfully carried out.

BP admits that two of these negative pressure tests on the day of the Deepwater Horizon explosion were unsuccessful, according to Mother Jones. A third-and-final test was to be performed but according to employee Christopher Haire who on the rig, it wasn't.

Mother Jones: Buzbee now tells Mother Jones that Haire saw no evidence that this third and final negative pressure test actually took place. As Haire had been waiting above the rig floor, his pressure gauges did not show any changes in the well—as they should have if another test had been performed. "That's why I've always said from the beginning that there never was a 'third test,'" Buzbee says. "The only information that we have about any so-called 'third test' is the word of BP." BP did not respond to a call and email seeking comment.




Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-big-question-did-bps-deepwater-horizon-rig-actually-pass-a-key-safety-test-2010-6

[JDPriestly]

1. The smoking gun.

[wordpix]

2. or rather, ANOTHER smoking gun---good luck, BP, hiding your evidence & witnesses

and do they really think that people they hire to pick up dead fish and wildlife won't talk, either?

[Adsos Letter]

3. Hang 'em; hang 'em high. n/t

[OnyxCollie]

4. K&R. nt

[florida08]

5. was watching testimony on CSPAN

a little earlier. They other companies (Conoco, Shell, Chevron, Exxon) all said they wouldn't have drilled the well the way BP did, and they certainly wouldn't have removed the mud before the pressure test. All of them saying it wouldn't have happend had they done it.

Shell has on their website from 2006 plans for an 8000 ft deep well in the Gulf. I assumed it's in by now. All of them had the same exact plan for an oil spill. 5 pages devoted to cleanup, 9 devoted to capping the well and 40 on how to spin the media. They were all asked about why each one of them had in their plans how to treat affected walruses. That was a hoot. They were cookie cutter plans.

Markey demanded BP apologize. He had to ask several times before he got it. You can read about it here
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Broadcast/oil-executives-face-congressional-criticism-disaster-response-plans/story?id=10919846

Now on MSNBC BP has had to halt collecting oil due to a fire which they say came from a lightning bolt.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. "it wouldn't have happend had they done it"

yeah, that a $2.00 will buy you a cup of coffee.

[happygoluckytoyou]

6. YEAH, WE TESTED IT... TWICE....oh... yeah.... if failed both times.... BUT WE DID TEST!!!!!

[florida08]

7. LOL

[flyarm]

8. Oh silly me ..I am surprised..notttt...but who has been in charge or the clean up so far??

Oh yeah the criminals who did this to our eco system!

In other Breaking news: Obama appoints Charles Manson to investigate Sharon Tate murder!

........................
Breaking news 35,00-60,000 barrels a day of oil continuing to flow into the Gulf Of Mexico according to Government Scientist study estimates.


opps I mean..there's not 1000 barrels a day flowing into the gulf..nope..

opps, there are not 5000 barrels a day.............nope

opps there is not 20,000 barrels a day...........noooope

Breaking news 35,00-60,000 barrels a day of oil continuing to flow into the Gulf Of Mexico according to Government Scientist study estimates.

now go eat fish from the Gulf..or perhaps Shrimp..........

[Nihil]

10. Correction: The employee making the claim works for Halliburton, not BP.

From the article in the OP:
> ... Halliburton service supervisor Christopher Haire ...

and, checking this detail,
> Testimony of Christopher Haire, Halliburton, cementer

(http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/hearings_only_deepest_well_cas.html)


That appears to be a minor detail but it has a bearing - he is not a BP
"whistle-blower" but an employee of an equally liable party, and a critical
one at that ...

Please bear with me:

1:
> Haire, who performed the two tests with the help of another rig worker,
> discontinued the second test at around 7 pm because the tank that held the
> drilling mud was full, Buzbee says. He was then told to shut a valve on the
> well and stand by. After about 45 minutes, Haire and a coworker began to wonder
> what was going on and went down to the rig floor, where the platform's drilling
> equipment was set up. There they found four employees of rig owner Transocean
> — the driller, tool pusher, and two assistant drillers.
> "At that point, I was instructed by the driller and the tool pusher that they
> had achieved a successful negative test on the rig floor," Haire told
> investigators from the Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service last month.
> (All four of the Transocean employees died in the blast.)

2:
> Probert (Halliburton CHSEO) said that negative pressure testing had continued
> "until Halliburton's cementing personnel were advised by the drilling
> contractor (Transocean) that the negative pressure test had been completed,
> and were placed on standby" —echoing Haire's claims of being told to wait for
> further instructions.

3:
> After this test, according to the BP briefing, there was "discussion about
> pressure on the drillpipe" and well was monitored until 7:55 pm, when
> the rig team was "satisfied that (the) test (was) successful."
> The Deepwater Horizon exploded less than two hours later.


It would appear that from one view, Halliburton stopped the 2nd pressure test
because the mud tank was full; from another, Halliburton stopped because
Transocean said the test had been completed; and from a third, the rig team
claimed that the test was successful.

As the four Transocean people on the rig team are dead, the exact & accurate
testimony of Mr Haire (the Halliburton employee) is now incredibly critical.


If that wasn't enough pressure for him, from the NOLA link above:
> The Halliburton employee who performed several of the cement lining jobs on
> the Deepwater Horizon said Friday that only the deepest casing in the well
> was closed with a new kind of light, quicker-curing nitrogen-infused cement.
>
> The testimony from cementer Christopher Haire was something of a surprise
> because Jimmy Harrell, the top (BP) drilling official on the rig when it exploded
> in the Gulf on April 20, testified Thursday that the rig had only used the
> nitrified cement on shallower casings. Harrell said he'd been warned that
> nitrogen from the cement could get in the well hole and cause problems.

(Note that the cement plan was devised by BP working with Halliburon.)

So, young Christopher is really the man in the hot seat as not only does one
view of the testing hang on his words alone but he is apparently the key person
with regard to where Halliburton's new cement was being used.

No wonder that Haire's lawyer says his client is "focusing on his medical
treatment" and unavailable for comment - he must have ulcers the size of
his fist ...

:yoiks:

[Zorra]

11. How long until the whistleblower ends up in prison for blowing the whistle on a multinational

corporation?
:popcorn:

[Nihil]

12. He is not a whistleblower - read the previous post.

He is not a BP "whistle-blower" but an employee of an equally liable party,
Halliburton, and an incredibly critical employee at that ...

As the four Transocean people on the rig team are dead, the exact & accurate
testimony of Mr Haire (the Halliburton employee) is now incredibly critical.

In addition, he is also apparently the key person with regard to exactly where
Halliburton's new cement was being used.

The "BP whistle-blower" meme is yet another distraction tactic.