Source:
NOLA.comHearings: Concerns over mud leaking led to another test
By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
May 28, 2010, 11:51AM
Final testimony of Chris Pleasant, Transocean, subsea supervisor:
Contrary to prior testimony from other rig leaders and BP's drilling engineer that tests gave no reason for concern and conditions were safe for the Deepwater Horizon to displace heavy drilling mud the evening of April 20, the rig's subsea supervisor testified Friday that workers were confused by some test results that showed possible leaks in the well.
Chris Pleasant, the man in charge of the blowout preventer and other well systems on the sea floor, said he was part of lengthy discussions about fluid losses in the well about four hours before the accident.
He said when he began his shift that day, he went to the drill floor and found a tool-pusher, one of the main drilling crew, discussing results of a negative pressure test with Robert Kaluza, BP's top official on the rig. He said the tool-pusher, Wyman Wheeler, was concerned that barrels of mud had leaked out during the pressure test. Some of the workers thought the mud had escaped through the annular space between concentric sets of metal casing that line the well. Others thought the mud was "U-tubing," an effect where drilling fluid falls down a channel in the well hole.
Pleasant said Kaluza, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination this week to avoid testifying, was the one who insisted that the test results weren't satisfactory.
"Bob Kaluza said that according to APD (the rig's permit to drill), we didn't achieve the results," Pleasant said.
Read more:
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/hearings_1.html
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