Pennywise, pound foolish BP. We will all pay for their miserliness. (See story)

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704324304575306800201158346.html
JUNE 15, 2010 BP Crew Focused on Costs: Congress
By NEIL KING JR. And RUSSELL GOLD
WASHINGTON— BP PLC engineers made a series of cost-conscious decisions that ran counter to the advice of key contractors in the days leading up to the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, according to documents released Monday by a congressional panel.

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The lawmakers' letter cited "five crucial decisions" BP made in designing and completing the well, which may have led to vulnerabilities in the well's design.

"The common feature of these five decisions is that they posed a trade-off between cost and well safety," the letter says.

I am finding the best coverage of Deepwater Horizon consistently from online.wsj. Great reporting.

[hayu_lol]

1. Good catch on this article...

looks like all the working experts on this well were for the additional tests and the safest course of action...while the hatchet-bearing heavyweight 'suits' went to saving a dime or two.

Note in the article that the barrels being lost per day is rated at 20,000-40,000 instead of what seems to be actually blowing out: 60,000 to 80,000 barrels per day. Fine for this spilage runs $1000 per barrel. BP attempting to keep the actual rate of loss as low as possible.

The few hours that would have been lost running necessary tests and fitting enough centralizers in the casing would have possibly saved the Gulf AND BP.

[flyingfysh]

2. if the tests had been run...

The probably no disaster would have happened, there would have been no blowout. But the people who ordered the tests would perhaps have been reprimanded or fired for costing the company money?