BP internal probe on Deepwater Horizon explosion raises more questions

According to a BP Plc internal probe on the cause of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the company’s engineers are blamed for misreading the Macondo well’s stability test results on the day of the explosion. The report said that the engineers mistakenly believed that the tests indicated the well was stable but in reality the signs clearly pointed to an impending blowout. This led to the decision to replace some of the heavier drilling mud with lighter seawater which resulted in gas escaping and sparking the explosion that killed 11 workers, injured 17 persons and began a three month period in which almost 5 million gallons of oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico.

If this report is accurate, and the engineers misread the test, the question is, why? These were no doubt highly trained and experienced engineers who had conducted these types of tests before.

Of course, with BP managers and engineers taking the Fifth, we are left to wonder what really happened. Did they really believe the test was satisfactory or did the pressure of cost overruns and excessive delays on the well “make” them believe it was satisfactory?

Source: Reuters