Did BP take shortcuts?
A congressional investigation into the April 20 oil well blowout
shows BP made risky decisions to save time and money.
Under the gun
Oil well was 43 days behind schedule
BP spent about $500,000 a day to lease rig
Centralizer
Time 10 hours
April 15 BP decides to use only six
centralizers to keep casing in center
of the borehole during cementing;
21 centralizers were recommended
Cost 15 centralizers
Well design
Time At least 3 days
April 19 BP chooses riskier well casing
(steel tube) design with only one gas
flow barrier if well cementing failed
Cost $7-10 million
2010 MCT
Source: House Subcommittee
on Oversight and Investigations
Graphic: Judy Treible, Lee Hulteng
Cement bond log
Time 9-12 hours
April 20 BP cancels acoustic
test to make sure cement has
bonded to casing and wellbore
Cost More than $118,000*
Mud circulation
Time 12 hours
April 20 BP conducts only
partial circulation of drilling
mud, a way to check for gas
pockets before cementing well
Cost N/A
Lockdown sleeve
Time N/A
April 20 BP did not
install device to prevent
well seal from being blown
out from below
Cost N/A
*BP paid $10,000 cancellation fee