The Leak Is Over: BP, USCG Declare Macondo Well Permanently Sealed

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - The Talk Radio News Service

After five months, the BP Deepwater Macondo Well has finally been permanently sealed.  

“We can now state, definitively, that the Macondo well poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico,” said National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen in a statement released by the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command on Sunday.

Pressure testing was completed early Sunday morning, assuring crews that the well is in fact completely sealed, and that the cement has set.

“This is a significant milestone in the response to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and is the final step in a complex and unprecedented subsea operation - finally confirming that this well no longer presents a threat to the Gulf of Mexico,” said Tony Hayward, petroleum mogul BP’s group chief executive, in a press release issued Sunday by BP. 

The final plugging of the well was enabled by the drilling of a relief well, which the administration has been touting as the only final answer to the months long leak since the beginning, despite having essentially capped the well with a customized stacking cap in mid July.  The relief well intercepted the Macondo’s annulus last wednesday, and began pumping a cement mixture into the open space on Friday.

The deepwater Macondo well, owned and operated by an amalgam of international corporations - including Britain’s BP and Halliburton, and the Swiss company Transocean - spewed millions of barrels of Sweet Louisiana Crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico after the rig exploded in a string of mishaps that took the lives of 11 workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, and crippled the Gulf Coast’s economy, which relies heavily upon the triumvirate of fishing, tourism, and oil industries.

As of Friday, 39,885 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters remain closed to fishing in response to public health and safety concerns, and approximately 600 miles of coastline are still experiencing some oil impacts, primarily in Louisiana, according to the Deepwater Horizon Joint Incident Command. 

BP America Chairman and President Lamar McKay said Sunday; “BP remains committed to remedying the harm that the spill caused to the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf Coast environment, and to the livelihoods of the people across the region.” 

BP Shrugs Responsibility For Explosion

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - The Talk Radio News Service

In remarks Wednesday after the release of a BP-led investigation into the cause of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April, BP’s incoming chief executive Bob Dudley said, “the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon was a shared responsibility among many entities.”

These claims come in harsh opposition to BP America Chairman and President Lamar McKay’s earlier statements - “Liability, blame, fault, put it over here … we are the responsible party.”

According to the investigation - which BP funded, led, and published - the ultimate explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig was the result of a chain of blunders - eight incidents in all. 

First, the cement barrier meant to isolate oil from the annulus (the space between the casing pipe and the surrounding rock) failed to isolate the oil. Then, another measure - called “shoe track barriers” - failed to isolate the oil. 

Negative-pressure testing was somehow accepted, and crews failed to recognize the influx of oil into the wellbore. Safety mechanisms should have then closed the blowout preventer, but instead the oil-mud mixture was diverted into the mud-gas separator, where the gas was vented directly onto the rig. Although a safety mechanism was designed to then prevent ignition, the fire and gas system failed.

All in all, the blowout preventer was ineffective although three separate methods of launching emergency mode were initiated.

Oil CEOs Face Congress

By Robert Hune-Kalter-Talk Radio News Service

The CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell Oil Company, and BP America, Inc., the five largest oil companies in the United States, appeared on Capitol Hill Tuesday before members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee fired up by the Gulf Coast oil spill.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Ma.), the chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, said he expected the members of the respective oil companies to tell the committee that they believed the incident that occurred with the Deepwater Horizon was an isolated incident.

“It is this kind of blind faith, which is ironically the name of an actual rig in the Gulf, that has lead to this kind of disaster,” Markey said.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) questioned ExxonMobil’s accident response plan because forty pages are dedicated to dealing with media coverage, while only nine represent oil removal. He complimented Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil for being well rehearsed.

“I was struck Mr. Tillerson, you indicated in your testimony, based on the industries extensive experience, you state that what we do know is that when you properly design wells for the range of risk anticipated, follow the established procedures, build in layers of redundancy, properly inspect and maintain equipment, train operators, conduct tests and drills, and focus on safe operations and risk management, tragic incidents like the one we’re witnessing in the Gulf today, should not occur, and I mention that because in today’s [Washington] Post, those exact same words are there, but it’s attributed to Kenneth P. Coen, ExxonMobil’s V.P. of Public and Government Affairs,” said Stupak.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) called for Lamar McKay to resign as CEO of BP America based on what he deemed the poor performance of the company in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) had harsher words for McKay.

“Mr. Stearns asked Mr. McKay to resign. Well, in the Asian culture we do things differently. During the samurai days we’d just give you a knife and ask you to commit harakiri,” said Cao.

The four companies joining BP at the hearing were in agreement that they could not do any better containing the oil spill than BP. They stressed that an incident like the Deepwater Horizon accident can be prevented if certain measures are followed.

“The information we’ve been able to gather suggests that practices we would not put in place were employed here; For example, the casing design and the mechanical barriers put in place, appear to be different than what we would use,” said John Watson, CEO of Chevron.

McKay said that when the two relief wells are completed in mid-August, the flow of oil should be ceased.

BP Hesitant To Judge Effectiveness Of 'Top Kill' Method

By Justine Rellosa- Talk Radio News Service

Lamar McKay, the President and Chairman of BP America, was not yet ready to weigh in on the effectiveness of the oil giant's recently implemented "top kill" method to stop the massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast during his appearance before the House Natural Resources Committee Thursday.

“We do not know how long it will take for the operation to prove successful or otherwise ... If necessary, we are also preparing a technique to clog the BOP (Blow Out Preventer) and stop the flow. It involves injecting fibrous material into the BOP,” McKay said.

McKay reassured the Committee that BP is taking responsibility for all costs and will exceed the liability cap in their response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

“We are taking our responsibilities as a responsible party very seriously. We have said that we are not going to use any caps of any sort. We’ve said we are going to reimburse the government ... and we are not going to ask for reimbursement from the government for any claims.”

BP President Concedes Responsibility, Says Company Will Respond To All 'Legitimate' Claims

By Benny Martinez – University of New Mexico / Talk Radio News Service

BP America Chairman and President Lamar McKay told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday that BP will take full responsibility for the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began on April 20th.

“Liability, blame, fault, put it over here,” McKay said. “We are the responsible party.”

As the country laments the death of 11 rig workers and the injury of 17 more, investigations remain ongoing in an effort to decipher what exactly went wrong.

“A full answer to those questions will have to await the joint investigation by the Departments of Homeland Security and Interior, Congress and an independent internal investigation that BP is conducting,” McKay said.

The biggest problem facing BP America is taking control of an oil well that continues to spew nearly 5,000 barrels of oil per day into the the Gulf of Mexico. Adding to the problem, an oil slick continues to threaten Gulf Coast states, adversely affecting the economy of the region.

A second attempt at capping the well using a containment system to funnel oil to ships 5,000 feet above is underway after an initial attempt failed. Biodegradable dispersants are being used to expedite the natural degradation process of oil and two relief wells are currently being drilled, a two to three week process, to permanently secure the spewing well.

Compensating Gulf Coast businesses and communities creates a more expensive challenge for BP to handle. According to McKay, BP is fully prepared to pay for the monetary damage resulting from the spill, even if that means exceeding a previously established $75 million liability cap.

“We are going to pay all legitimate claims,” the BP President said. “As to the $75 million, we think that we’re going to exceed that and that is irrelevant. We’re going to pay the claims and the entire resources of BP are behind this.”