NEW ORLEANS – A federal probe has found that a trapped piece of drill pipe prevented a key failsafe device from properly sealing off the blown oil well that caused last year's massive BP Gulf oil spill, according to a report released Wednesday.
The 551-page report said the device, known as a blowout preventer, failed to work properly because the piece of drill pipe kept its blind shear rams from sealing the well around the time of the April 20 oil rig explosion off the coast of Louisiana. Shear rams are components in a blowout preventer that cut, or shear, through drill pipe and form a seal against well pressure.
The Norwegian firm hired by the government to test the blowout preventer said the way the drill pipe was positioned within the wellbore caused it to buckle and bow when the well lost control, impeding the rams.
Det Norske Veritas's report does not assign blame to any one company, but does find fault with the performance and design of the blowout preventer. The device was made by Cameron and maintained by Transocean Ltd.
The firm made several recommendations for the industry in its report, including changing the design of blowout preventers.
Read more at: http://news.**********/s/ap/20110323/..._investigation
It's one of those things....you're drilling away. You hear a loud crack....the boss asks "WHAT THE *@!)@ WAS THAT?"...and you go "OH NOTHING".
Or they're packing up and they're counting drill pipe...."CHARLIE DID WE BRING 49 OR 50 PIPES?".....
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