- 10/28/10 02:33 PM ET Halliburton and BP knew weeks ahead of the fatal explosion of the Macondo well that cement being used to seal it was faulty but "neither acted upon it," a top investigator for a bipartisan presidential commission investigating the spill said in its first official finding.72;
72;Three of four tests Halliburton ran on cement the company subsequently used to seal the Gulf of Mexico well before it ruptured April 20 — killing 11 — showed that the mixture would be unstable, lead investigator Fred Bartlit said in a letter sent to the panel’s commissioners Thursday.72;
72;Halliburton may not have had — and BP did not have — the results of the one test that showed the cement was stable before the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, “meaning that the cement job may have been pumped without any lab results indicating that the foam cement slurry would be stable,” Bartlit wrote. 72; 72;
BP was given the results of testing in March “showing that a very similar foam slurry design to the one actually pumped at the Macondo well would be unstable, but neither acted upon it,” Bartlit wrote. “Halliburton (and perhaps BP) should have considered redesigning the foam slurry before pumping it at the Macondo well.”72; 72;
BP and the owner of the rig — Transocean — “misinterpreted or chose not to conduct” tests developed by the oil industry to identify cementing failures, he wrote.72; 72;
Halliburton has publicly stated that it tested the Macondo cement before pumping it on April 19 and 20 and that its tests indicated the cement would be stable.72;72;
The well explosion set off the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The findings drew quick rebuke from Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who heads a key Energy and Commerce subcommittee. 72;72;"This is like building a car when you know the brakes could fail, but you sell the cars anyway," Markey said. "We now know what BP and Halliburton knew, and when they knew it. And now we know they did absolutely nothing about it."72;72;
Markey reiterated his push for Congress to grant the spill commission subpoena power and for BP CEO Bob Dudley to appear before Markey's Energy and Environment Subcommittee. Dudley has twice turned down Markey's request to appear.
