Weekend Edition: BP Concealed Caspian Blowout

NYT: heat buckles Deepwater Horizon

More: Never a department willing to pass up low lying fruit for some favorable publicity, the Justice Department filed a criminal charge against a former BP engineer who is accused of obstructing justice by deleting 200 text messages documenting the amount of oil flowing out of the crippled Macondo well. An early attempt to top kill the blowout failed in part because the company underestimated the flow rate. The criminal complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana and unsealed on Tuesday. According to the NYT story federal officials suggested there would be more criminal charges related to the disaster that killed 11 workers and spilled billions of barrels of crude oil that is poisoning the Gulf of Mexico. No charges have been filed against the company itself, however, despite evidence  company executives knew of problems with the cement used to line the well bore [below], irresponsible company decisions motivated by cost cutting, and designing a faulty deep water well. The London based international already reached a settlement of related economic claims in a consolidated civil case also filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

{21.04.12} US Person is advocating a criminal prosecution of British Petroleum for the Deepwater Horizon disaster {The Gulf of Mexico is Sick, 03.04.12} because the record so far establishes that the company acted recklessly in dealing with the problematic Macondo well in deep water. His conclusion is backed up by incidents from the company's past operations in Alaska and Texas {Deepwater Horizon}. But the latest evidence of BP's corporate culture of 'damn the regulations and save money' comes from Baku in the Caspian Sea. Admittedly, operating in the Caspian Sea is not subject to the same regulatory environment as the Gulf of Mexico, but what is relevant is that BP concealed from US regulators, and the International Drilling Contractors Association that "quick dry" cement on a runaway Caspian well failed in 2008 only two years before the Deepwater Horizon disaster. BP has attempted to blame well services company Haliburton for using the cement on the Macondo blowout. BP told a federal judge that Haliburton concealed a computer model showing quick-dry cement could fail disastrously, but if BP had informed Haliburton of its experience in the Caspian Sea, the Macondo well might have been brought under control much sooner. Nitrogen injected into cement to speed drying can cause channels which allow methane to escape and blow out the well bore cap. This information comes from an exclusive report by Greg Palast writing at EcoWatch.org. Palast's story is based on an interview with an eyewitness rig worker confirmed by other industry insiders. BP was able to cover-up the 2008 incident with the help of Azerbaijan authorities, other oil companies, and according to Palast, the second Bush Administration.

BP acknowledged there was an incident in 2008 but mischaracterized the event as "a gas leak in the area of the platform" in its SEC filing. Witnesses said the methane blew out through the drilling stack, engulfing the platform. The Caspian well suffered cracking of its casing allowing methane to escape into the sea. The ensuing evacuation was chaotic according to platform workers. This incident is very similar to what occurred on the Deepwater Horizon platform except there the gas ignited, killing 11 workers and releasing billions of barrels of crude oil that is still poisoning the Gulf two years later. BP's Vice-President for Operations told Congress gas releases were rare five months before the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon without mentioning the Caspian Sea incident. Workers who know about such events are reluctant to report them outside the industry for fear of being blackballed from high paying offshore jobs. But a Wikileaks cable reveals that company VP Bill Schrader told the US ambassador the emergency evacuation of the Central Azeri platform on September 17, 2008 was the biggest in BP's history. In the cable, the ambassador opined that BP was "quite fortunate to have been able to evacuate everyone [211 workers] safely and to prevent any gas ignition." Regardless of fortune, BP was focused on the $50 million per day it was losing while the platform was shut down. Cooperation of Azeri officials was secured with $75 million in bribes paid by company executives. BP's luck with fast and loose operations ran out aboard the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010.

red snapper lesion

More evidence of the long-term impacts on wildlife from the disaster in the Gulf are being discovered.  A team of scientists conducted seven cruises last July and August looking at the condition of fish in the Gulf. About 3% of the fish caught suffered gashes, ulcers and parasites symptomatic of environmental contamination. The number of sick fish rose as the surveyors moved west from Florida towards the location of the Macondo blowout. About 10% of the bottom dwelling tile fish were suffering disease. Some of the diseases marine biologists have not seen before in the Gulf such as fin rot, and large open sores. Crustacean are also suffering from lesions, lost appendages and black gunk on their gills. Gulf fishermen are concerned. You should be too because the health of the planet is inextricably connected to yours.