"Drilling Process Attracts Scrutiny in Rig Explosion" Halliburton at center

Looks like Halliburton is right at the center of the explosion and subsequent spill and it's happened before - just last year, in fact.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575214593564769072.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

An oil-drilling procedure called cementing is coming under scrutiny as a possible cause of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that has led to one of the biggest oil spills in U.S. history, drilling experts said Thursday.

~snip~

Regulators have previously identified problems in the cementing process as a leading cause of well blowouts, in which oil and natural gas surge out of a well with explosive force. When cement develops cracks or doesn't set properly, oil and gas can escape, ultimately flowing out of control. The gas is highly combustible and prone to ignite, as it appears to have done aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased by BP PLC, the British oil giant.

~snip~

Halliburton also was the cementer on a well that suffered a big blowout last August in the Timor Sea, off Australia. The rig there caught fire and a well leaked tens of thousands of barrels of oil over 10 weeks before it was shut down. The investigation is continuing; Halliburton declined to comment on it.

Elmer P. Danenberger, who had recently retired as head of regulatory affairs for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, told the Australian commission looking into the blowout that a poor cement job was probably the reason oil and natural gas gushed out of control.



An inquiry is currently being held about the Montara spill (the one in the Timor Sea)
http://www.montarainquiry.gov.au/downloads/Exhibits/Documents/20100319/HAL.9002.0004.0294.pdf
PDF of Halliburton Post-Job report of the cementing of the Montara well. Note at the end: "Good Job. Well Done. It was a huge job."


More on the Montara spill:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montara_oil_spill
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/04/2732989.htm

BP is going to blame everyone else but themselves, even though they are ultimately responsible for the activity during the drilling process.

Seems they are speculating on why it blew out before an investigation is even finished, I guess if they can get people to focus on Halliburton because they are already unliked, BP will dodge the blame.

though I don't rule out that happening.

Much of the info about this type of blow out is coming out because of the current Australian inquiry into the cause of the Montara spill, which occurred in Aug 2009 and seems to have gone on into Nov 2009. The inquiry is going on now and the cement job done by Halliburton is being brought up as a likely cause. As far as I can see, BP had nothing to do with Montara, but Halliburton did.
The connection is that it's reported now that Halliburton performed the same type of process on the BP rig, which also went on to explode and spill.

Mind you, none of that exonerates BP or PTTEP, since there's also approval and cooperation in the process. But it looks to me like Halliburton's role merits further investigation.

It still doesn't explain whybthe BOP failed operate. Lots of things went wrong on this job.

I knew something like this would come up.

I'm sure at this point they have forgotten the loss of life and our now looking at it as major investment loss.