Oil Spill.....

[R1Geezer]

Why has Transocean not even getting a mention on the news? BP are getting the blame but all they did was hire a firm that lets out and staffs Oil rigs for 500,000 bucks a day. They screwed up but barely get a mention on the news, especially in the US. If I hired some builders and they stuck their JCB bucket through a water main, I'm pretty certain that it'd be thebuilding firm that gets a lot of the flack. Yes BP are responsible but surely everyone can see they are not totally culpable.

[trt]

They should have investigated Transocean to see if they were a good company before hiring them!

[BillyBB]

Allegedly
the Americans running BP in Houston told the (American firm) Halliburton who did the dodgy concrete job to use less ties than they recommended. BP decided to use a single pipe rather than double layer which is safer, in order to save time and money. They also told (American firm) Transocean to cut short the recirculation of 'mud' 10-12 hours before it actually reached the surface and the gas test could show results. There turned out to be lots of gas which then caused a blowout as Transocean replaced the mud with seawater before capping the well.

[BillyBB]

Of course BP thought that the blowout preventer (made by Cameron who I think are an American firm) which was owned and installed by Transocean was actually working and going to stop any blowout.
As ever with such tragedies, this was a multi level failure and you can bet that all the other firms drilling in the gulf were doing similar things but will now tighten up.

[BillyBB]

I believe that Transocean are very highly regarded and were actually the second firm to attempt drilling this well for BP and I thought it cost closer to a million dollars a day plus 15million worth of 'mud' that leaked away into the rock.
Not sure who the first lot were and why they did not complete though.

IIRC Something like a 13000 foot hole drilled into the sea floor starting a mile below the surface, flippin incredible.

[Whickerman]

All of the firms mentioned are reputable and leaders in their field.

However the systems in place are only as good as the people who use them, and also the US govt must take a certain amount of blame as it was they, under G.W.Bush's leadership, who reduced the safety factors required by drilling oil rigs in US territories. Also, this accident couldn't occur in the North Sea or even Mexico as these safety factors remain high.

[R1Geezer]

Yes but surely then there should be whole gaggle getting a s;ating in the news. Obams and co seem to be saying it's all the fault of BP and especially the CEO. Whilst they are ultimately responsible I'd expect more even pillory.

[Seadragon]

I think the priority is to try and stop or control the oil spewing out. As I understand it BP is contracted for the clear-up and spillage containment and thus reduce the economic and ecological disaster growing each day that the oil continues to spill.

I can't bear to see the pictures of the oil spewing out. It's bad enough seeing the oil-coated Pelicans.

The legal liability of Transocean and Hallibuton is a separate issue to the containment of the oil spill and is under investigation as such.

I do think its unfair that Obama does not at all mention to the public that BP is majority Amercian owned probably because of the impending November (I think?) election.

And since the CEO is Brit Tony Hayward who has from the beginning downplayed the whole continuing disaster, Britain just seems to be unjustifiably blamed.

It didn't inspire much confidence in BP's control of the situation that Hayward initially played down the amount of oil spilling and then his comments such as the the ocean being big and he wants his life back - implying that he is the victim I think is leading to anti-British views which Obama is not appeasing because of his own interests.

Which is what most Presidents would have done in similiar circumstances.