BP audit revealed problems with Deepwater Horizon

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http://blogs.chron.com/newswatchenergy/archives/2010/08/bp_audit_reveal.html

August 23, 2010
BP audit revealed problems with Deepwater Horizon


BP identified several dozen problems with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig as part of a September 2009 internal audit, but it was unclear how many how many had been addressed at the time of the fatal BP well blowout four months ago, according to testimony today at federal investigative hearings into the April 20 accident.

Eleven of those items were outside BP's own standards, while 54 conflicted with legislative standards and codes set by rig owner Transocean and the American Petroleum Institute, said Jason Mathews, a representative of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE.

The joint panel comprised of agency members and the Coast Guard representatives is investigating root causes of the April 20 blowout at BP's Macondo well that killed 11 workers and launched the worst U.S. oil spill.

Neil Cramond, head of BP's marine authority for the Gulf of Mexico, testified that as a result of the findings, BP recommended in September the Deepwater Horizon suspend operation for five days.

But on Sept. 22, BP recommended the rig be put back in service, though not all the items had been addressed.

The BP audit also identified nearly 300 conditions in which planned maintenance on the rig was past due.

Cramond said that as of March 2010, when BP last checked, 63 of 70 items related to marine conditions of the vessel had been corrected, and the remaining seven were in process. He said he was only responsible for the marine items; the majority of the other items flagged by the audit related to drilling equipment and other conditions outside his purview, he said.

- Brett Clanton