Rig survivors: BP ordered shortcut on day of blast
Rig survivors: BP ordered shortcut on day of blast - CNN.com
An interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN brings to light the following "issue".
The morning the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, a BP executive and a Transocean official argued over how to proceed with the drilling, rig survivors told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview. The survivors' account paints perhaps the most detailed picture yet of what happened on the deepwater rig -- and the possible causes of the April 20 explosion.
The BP official wanted workers to replace heavy mud, used to keep the well's pressure down, with lighter seawater to help speed a process that was costing an estimated $750,000 a day and was already running five weeks late, rig survivors told CNN.
BP won the argument, said Doug Brown, the rig's chief mechanic. "He basically said, 'Well, this is how it's gonna be.' "
More on the article, including quotes by survivors, by following the link above.
Maybe if we had some drillers on the forum they could explain the problems of using seawater rather than heavy mud and how much time could be saved thusly.
E. G.