The $30 Billion Shorfcut

BP has a history of poor operations, making short-term decisions in favour of a quick profit. That has now blown up big time on them with the Gulf oil spill.

Here is an interesting article by David Hammer of the Times-Picayune newspaper that talks about the criminally foolish "shortcuts" taken by BP:

Costly, time-consuming test of cement linings in Deepwater Horizon rig was omitted, spokesman says

BP hired a top oilfield service company to test the strength of cement linings on the Deepwater Horizon's well, but sent the firm's workers home 11 hours before the rig exploded April 20 without performing a final check that a top cementing company executive called "the only test that can really determine the actual effectiveness" of the well's seal.

A spokesman for the testing firm, Schlumberger, said BP had a Schlumberger team and equipment for sending acoustic testing lines down the well "on standby" from April 18 to April 20. But BP never asked the Schlumberger crew to perform the acoustic test and sent its members back to Louisiana on a regularly scheduled helicopter flight at 11 a.m., Schlumberger spokesman Stephen T. Harris said.

Go read the whole article. It has an excellent graphic with details about the oil well.