BP agreed to parts changes on oil rig, 2004 letter shows

[maddezmom]

By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 23, 2010

BP agreed in 2004 to the installation of a test valve and replacement of another key part on the Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer, even though it acknowledged that doing so would reduce redundancies and increase risks on the drilling rig.

The agreement was the subject of a letter, obtained by The Washington Post, written by rig owner Transocean and signed by a BP representative.

BP told members of Congress this month that it did not know about a reconfiguration of the blowout preventer. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), after reviewing information provided by BP, called the test valve "useless" and questioned Transocean about its placement. He said BP told his subcommittee that while oil was spilling into the Gulf of Mexico the company spent "an entire day's worth of precious time . . . engaging rams that closed the wrong way" because a test valve was in the place where BP expected to find a variable bore ram capable of pinching off the oil flow.

BP and Transocean have said there were still more than the number of rams required by the Minerals Management Service. Rams are devices designed to cut off surging oil and natural gas after a well blowout like the one that set the Deepwater Horizon on fire on April 20 and started the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/22/AR2010052203338.html