Enough With The BP Bullshit (A guest post by Alan von Altendorf)

So you think the BP (BP) Gulf of Mexico story is all done and dusted? Think again and read on as industry expert Alan von Altendorf guest-posts on IKN and talks about things that BP would rather you didn't hear. Enjoy.

guest post by Alan von Altendorf

ENOUGH WITH THE BP BULLSHIT

I have followed the Macondo intervention for more than four months. Immediately after the blowout on April 20, BP denied responsibility and blamed Transocean. BP denied there was any oil leaking, then admitted a paltry 1000 bpd, then well okay maybe 5000 bpd, tops.

None of this was true. The well was spewing 50,000 bpd and we watched BP attempt cofferdams, junk shots, top hats and a giant scissors that mangled the riser so badly that it had to be unbolted and removed. Best estimate of the leaked oil to date is 5 million barrels, of which less than 1 million barrels were captured by BP's various Rube Goldberg contraptions and flared into the atmosphere.

All of this may have been understandable and forgiveable. BP was completely unprepared to deal with a blowout in 5000 feet of water. They launched a fleet of Remotely Operated Vehicles from a crowded "city of ships" and started two relief wells under the supervision of famed wild well expert John Wright.

And then? - suddenly the relief wells were halted at few feet from their target. BP capped the well from above with a new 3-ram stack and decided to pump mud and cement down from the top.

That brings us to the situation at present. During the past six weeks, nothing has been advanced. BP claims that the reservoir is plugged with cement and the BOP was displaced to seawater.

Bullshit. They've been pumping mud, antifreeze, methanol, and some kind of purple Drano. The top stack was inoperable at normal pressure. There are three broken drill pipes jammed in the BOP, one of which is 3000 feet long. Zero progress has been made in "fishing" them out.

The seafloor is cracked and spewing take your pick -- a billion amphipod crustaceans that didn't exist last month, or whatever BP is pumping down the well daily -- brown mud, methylene blue leak discloser, green antifreeze, 100% straight white methanol -- or oil and gas.

If it weren't for a Congressional order, we wouldn't have any ROV video feeds at all. But that hasn't stopped BP from blacking out certain shots and swapping feeds to keep us in the dark. Here's a collection of stills that were grabbed during the past couple days. A downhole camera showed us oil and chunks of cement floating up. The surface of the sea has been turned green. There's a big plume of brown mud, like a mile wide liquid donut of dirty bathwater surrounding eerily deep blue Macondo well ops.

Just wait until they detach the BOP from the wellhead. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

v

BP: A repeat post

This was first posted on June 1st. It's getting re-posted due to reports that Haywood is about to go. Surprised? Read on.......

June 1st: We're going to claim this as LatAm related, thanks to the word "Mexico" in the "Gulf of...." place that's suffering. I've been exchanging mails with an old friend of mine (we go waaaaaaaaay back) this morning who happens to be an environmental activist and (if memory serves) a member of Greenpeace. His question to me was;

"Do you think BP's CEO (Tony Haywood) will resign?"

My answer was;

"Yep, bet the house on it."

He then asked;

"Why?"

I said;

"Check the share price."

Because in the way of the capitalist, things like the worst oil spill of all time, the enviro disaster, the brickbats thrown by treehuggers, the accusations of media cover-ups....all those things can be ignored and successfully ridden by a multinational company CEO. But a sharp fall in the PPS and you're toast.

It's not good. It's not bad. It's the way it is. Chau, Tony.

Good news for BP investors

BP (BP) longs might have seen their stock price cut in half in 2010, but it could have been worse: They could have been long Gammon Gold (GRS) (GAM.to) instead.

After all, they might look the same but at least the BP longs picked up that 82c quarterly dividend in Feb. C'mon guys, join in the chorus!

BP vs endangered turtle species: Take a wild guess as to who loses?

But the way in which endangered turtle species are dying is yet another shame on BP. Watch it all, but pay close attention to the 1:20 to 2:00 segment.

Today's fun BP trivia

As pointed out by The Guardian, the original name for BP was the First Exploitation Company.

What goes around comes around.

Calling BP

Nice work if you can get it.

click to enlarge

Buy Google (GOOG)

Capitalism; laugh or cry? YOU BE THE JUDGE!

"A simple Google search of “oil spill” turns up several thousand news results, but the first link, highlighted at the very top of the page, is from BP. “Learn more about how BP is helping,” the link’s tagline reads.

A spokesman for the company confirmed to ABC News that it had, in fact, bought these search terms to make information on the spill more accessible to the public.

“We have bought search terms on search engines like Google to make it easier for people to find out more about our efforts in the Gulf and make it easier for people to find key links to information on filing claims, reporting oil on the beach and signing up to volunteer,” BP spokesman Toby Odone told ABC News."

BP

We're going to claim this as LatAm related, thanks to the word "Mexico" in the "Gulf of...." place that's suffering. I've been exchanging mails with an old friend of mine (we go waaaaaaaaay back) this morning who happens to be an environmental activist and (if memory serves) a member of Greenpeace. His question to me was;

"Do you think BP's CEO (Tony Haywood) will resign?"

My answer was;

"Yep, bet the house on it."

He then asked;

"Why?"

I said;

"Check the share price."

Because in the way of the capitalist, things like the worst oil spill of all time, the enviro disaster, the brickbats thrown by treehuggers, the accusations of media cover-ups....all those things can be ignored and successfully ridden by a multinational company CEO. But a sharp fall in the PPS and you're toast.

It's not good. It's not bad. It's the way it is. Chau, Tony.

The real, eyewitness effects of an oil spill

Further to yesterday's post on the BP Deepwater Horizon post and the cover-up in process, a link was sent to me by somebody with close ties to the effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The place to go is the link that's covered by the following blurb:

Reliving the tragedy of the Exxon Valdez
For those living on Kodiak Island, Alaska, watching the news these days brings back nightmares of 21 years ago, when the massive Exxon Valdez oil tanker hit rock, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into the sea. Fisherman Dave Kubiak joins us from Kodiak Island to talk about how the Exxon Valdez spill affected his life and his community.

You then click through and listen to 9 minutes and thirty seconds of real experience in these things. It's genuine, simple and moving to listen to an honest man who went through the experience of the oil and the subsequent company-led excuses and lies....another example of plus ça change. Mustlisten material and thanks due to A. Reader for sending it in. Here's the link again, to make sure you go listen.

BP Deepwater Horizon: Important

A post at The Oil Drum and linked here is, quite literally, explosive stuff. As the poster notes;

"Anyone that is still a BP apologist after these damning pieces of evidence have been brought forth is not worthy to hold a job in this industry & should seek employment at a bologna sandwich factory, because you have deceived yourself beyond the point of being helped. BP executives, engineers, drilling supervisors on site & in their chain of command that had any thing to do with anyone of these actions should be brought up on charges of negligent homicide & multiple counts of negligent destruction to private, state, & federal property & have to answer for these indefensible decisions."

The people at The Oil Drum aren't a bunch of mouthy knownothings; au contraire, the posters and commenters there are well-known in the industry as highly experienced and knowledgeable professionals, as witnessed by the story broke by Reuters this morning that used the information in the post and string to start its investigation. You need to read this.

UPDATE: Why is this story enormous? Check out this link that runs on from the original above. It seems that Schlumberger (SLB) were acutely aware of the clear and present dangers at Deepwater Horizon, told BP all about it and BP ignored the advice given to them by the world's top oil services company. Here's an extensive excerpt from the post that explains what happens when SLB people went to visit the rig, literally hours before the explosion:

"BP contracted Schlumberger (SLB) to run the Cement Bond Log (CBL) test that was the final test on the plug that was skipped. The people testifying have been very coy about mentioning this, and you’ll see why.

SLB is an extremely highly regarded (and incredibly expensive) service company. They place a high standard on safety and train their workers to shut down unsafe operations.

SLB gets out to the Deepwater Horizon to run the CBL, and they find the well still kicking heavily, which it should not be that late in the operation. SLB orders the “company man” (BP’s man on the scene that runs the operation) to dump kill fluid down the well and shut-in the well. The company man refuses. SLB in the very next sentence asks for a helo to take all SLB personel back to shore. The company man says there are no more helo’s scheduled for the rest of the week (translation: you’re here to do a job, now do it). SLB gets on the horn to shore, calls SLB’s corporate HQ, and gets a helo flown out there at SLB’s expense and takes all SLB personel to shore.

6 hours later, the platform explodes."

Reuters has now picked up on this story and run with it too, bringing real journalistic gravitas to the breaking news here. Here's a part of the Reuters note:

Schlumberger says its crew left Horizon day of fire

Wed May 19, 2010 8:56pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19 (Reuters) - Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N), the world's largest oilfield services company, said on Wednesday it had a crew on the Deepwater Horizon that departed only hours before the explosion and fire that engulfed the rig.

The company, which had not previously revealed its work on the Horizon, said in an emailed statement that continues here