Deepwater Horizon: flic opens September 30

A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history..   

[10/17/13 Halliburton manager pleads guilty,to deleting data]

A former Halliburton manager pleaded guilty October 15 to destroying evidence in the aftermath of the deadly rig explosion that spawned BP’s massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Anthony Badalamenti, 62, of Katy, Texas, faces a maximum sentence of 1 year in prison and a $100,000 fine after his guilty plea in U.S. District Court to one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence. His sentencing by U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey is set for Jan. 21.

Badalamenti was the cementing technology director for Halliburton Energy Services Inc., BP’s cement contractor on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Prosecutors said he instructed two Halliburton employees to delete data during a post-spill review of the cement job on BP’s blown-out Macondo well.

Last month, a federal judge accepted a separate plea agreement calling for Halliburton to pay a $200,000 fine for a misdemeanor stemming from Badalamenti’s conduct. Halliburton also agreed to be on probation for three years and to make a $55 million contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, but that payment was not a condition of the deal.

Badalamenti isn't the first individual charged with a crime stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

BP well site leaders Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine await a trial next year on manslaughter charges stemming from the rig workers' deaths. Prosecutors claim they botched a key safety test and disregarded abnormally high pressure readings that were glaring signs of trouble before the well blowout.

Former BP executive David Rainey is charged with concealing information from Congress about the amount of oil that was spewing from the blown-out well in 2010. Former BP engineer Kurt Mix is charged with deleting text messages and voicemails about the company's response to the spill.

The April 20, 2010, rig explosion killed 11 workers and led to the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

[September 19]
Halliburton pleaded guilty September 19 to federal charges of destroying evidence relating to BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.    11 workers killed and millions of barrels of oil spilled into Gulf of Mexico.  
Anthony Badalamenti, who had been the cementing technology director for Halliburton Energy Services Inc., was charged in federal court with instructing two other employees to delete data during a post-spill review of the cement job on BP's blown-out well.   On September 19, a federal judge accepted a plea agreement that calls for Halliburton to pay a $200,000 fine for a misdemeanor stemming from Badalamenti's alleged conduct.
[September 2 2011]
BP gave inaccurate information after the blowout as well in an effort to blame others for the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, Halliburton said
Houston – Sept. 2, 2011 – On September 1, 2011, Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) filed claims against BP in Texas state court for negligent misrepresentation, business disparagement and defamation related to the April 20, 2010, Macondo incident. Halliburton has also moved to amend its claims against BP in the multi-district litigation in New Orleans, Louisiana, to include fraud.

These allegations are based upon BP providing Halliburton with inaccurate information prior to performing cementing services on April 19, 2010, and BP’s use of and omission of that information in subsequent public statements, filings and governmental investigations.

Halliburton has learned that BP provided Halliburton inaccurate information about the actual location of hydrocarbon zones in the Macondo well. The actual location of the hydrocarbon zones is critical information required prior to performing cementing services and is necessary to achieve desired cement placement.

Halliburton remains confident that all the work it performed with respect to the Macondo well was completed in accordance with BP’s specifications for its well construction plan and instructions, and that Halliburton is fully indemnified under the contract.

The Macondo blowout and the explosion that followed killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The accident and spill led to hundreds of lawsuits against London-based BP and its partners and contractors. The lawsuits over economic losses and personal injuries have been combined before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans.

The lawsuits also name as defendants Transocean Ltd. (RIG), the Switzerland-based owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded; Houston-based Halliburton; and Cameron International Corp. (CAM), which provided blowout-prevention equipment. BP’s minority partners in the well, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) and Mitsui & Co.’s Moex Offshore LLC unit, were also sued.

Deepwater Horizon: ecosystem could take decades to recover

The Deepwater Horizon disaster could have a lasting impact on the Gulf of Mexico, according to a new paper suggesting that the region’s deep-sea soft-sediment ecosystem could take decades to recover from the 2010 oil spill.

The authors claim  provides comprehensive results on the spill’s effect on deep-water communities at the base of the Gulf’s food chain for the first time.

The spill resulted from an explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that occurred on April 20, 2010, and resulted in a total of 4.9 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) of crude in what went on to become the largest offshore oil spill in US history.

BP’s internal records for the Macondo project conflicted with numbers sent to drilling regulators and established a pattern of “consistent misreporting” of well pressures, Alan Huffman, a Houston-based petroleum geophysicist, testified for the U.S. government in a trial over claims tied to the 2010 Gulf spill. The fudged numbers allowed BP to continue drilling for oil, he said.

The oil company created “a very misleading impression” about the well’s safety conditions and engaged in drilling operations that “I’ve never seen an operator do,” Huffman told a judge February 27 in New Orleans.

After hearing evidence in the trial, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans will decide who is liable for damages tied to the largest offshore spill in U.S. history and whether BP, Transocean Ltd. (RIG) or other companies that worked on the project were grossly negligent in their handling of the rig and well. His ruling in the nonjury trial on that issue will affect how much each company may have to pay.

[January 14]

Agreement Reached with U.S. Department of Justice on Deepwater Horizon Claims
ZUG, SWITZERLAND-Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) today announced that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve certain outstanding civil and potential criminal claims against the company arising from the April 20, 2010, accident involving the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico.

As part of this resolution, a Transocean subsidiary has agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) for negligent discharge of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and pay $1.4 billion in fines, recoveries and penalties, excluding interest.  This resolution will result in the Department of Justice concluding its criminal investigation of Transocean and settling its claims for civil penalties against the company relating to the spill from BP's Macondo well.  The company intends to satisfy its payment obligations over a period of five years, using cash on hand and cash flow from operations.  At September 30, 2012, Transocean had accrued an estimated loss contingency of $1.5 billion associated with claims made by the Department of Justice.

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[June 15 2010]
IMO number: 8764597
The DEEPWATER HORIZON was a Reading & Bates Falcon RBS8D design semi-submersible drilling unit capable of operating in harsh environments and water depths up to 8,000 ft (upgradeable to 10,000 ft) using 18¾in 15,000 psi BOP and 21in OD marine riser. here

Marshall Islands Registry in the hot seat: "The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was built in South Korea. It was operated by a Swiss company under contract to a British oil firm. Primary responsibility for safety and other inspections rested not with the U.S. government but with the Republic of the Marshall Islands — a tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean." full story
Guardian

BP’s single largest shareholder is the sprawling asset management firm BlackRock, based in New York City, which owned the equivalent of more than one billion shares of BP stock just two weeks before the Deepwater Horizon blowout, according to the financial analysis firm Capital IQ. (Bank of America owns a 34.1 percent stake in BlackRock.)

The second-largest American owner, and third largest over all, is State Street Global Advisors, based in Boston, with 307 million shares. After them are the mutual fund firm Capital Research and Management Company of Los Angeles, with 247 million shares, and the Vanguard Group, based in Malvern, Pa., with 140 million shares. Rounding out the top five is Franklin Resources of San Mateo, Calif., another publicly owned asset management firm, with 131 million shares.

More familiar names crop up further down the list, like Fidelity Investments, with 124 million shares; T. Rowe Price Group, with 93 million shares; and State Farm Insurance, with 79 million shares.

Then there are the banks: as of March 31, JPMorgan Chase held a respectable 76 million shares; Bank of America, 69 million shares; and Goldman Sachs, 42 million shares.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is another a major investor, with nearly 43 million shares.

here

Deepwater Horizon: BP's former chief executive head of Xstrata

 Ivan Glasenberg two years ago selected Tony Hayward to back the group’s initial public offering: the Glencore chief executive sees the former BP chief executive as one of the best in the oil industry.

. They share a lifestyle that involves near-constant travel. Both had to work hard to climb the corporate ladder..

The personal connection was evident Thursday at the maiden annual meeting of Glencore Xstrata as an enlarged company in Zug, Switzerland, with both men seeming at ease with their respective roles as chief executive and interim chairman.

Yet few expect him to stay in the job for long. Genel, his post-BP vehicle, is his primary focus these days: the company is now the largest independent crude producer in Iraqi Kurdistan.

[May 16]

John Bond, a City veteran and former chairman of Xstrata, earlier surprised investors by announcing he had been voted out of the top job at the miner and trader at its first annual shareholders' meeting, which he then asked Tony Hayward, the former chief executive of BP to lead.

Bond, who had been expected to relinquish his role once a replacement was found, gave no explanation for the vote in Zug, Switzerland, which was presumably backed by Glencore executives who still own almost 25 percent of the company.

As interim chairman, Hayward, already senior independent director, is expected to lead the nominations committee which will pick a permanent replacement. The committee had until Thursday been chaired by Bond.

A new chairman is expected to be appointed by the end of the year, a second source with knowledge of the matter said.

For Hayward, who said he felt "demonized and vilified" over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the appointment at Glencore is a return to the top at a major UK-listed resource firm.

[July 25 2010]
Tony Hayward, the embattled chief executive of BP, has agreed to step down and be replaced by Robert Dudley, the company’s most senior American executive who is now in charge of BP’s operations in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a person close to the company’s board.

Deepwater Horizon: revving up for the trial

Filings are starting before trial among BP and the contractors Halliburton and Transocean over blame in the Deepwater Horizon blast in April 2010, which killed 11 workers and led to 206m US gallons (780m litres) of crude oil escaping into the Gulf of Mexico. So far, BP, the majority owner of the Macondo well, has footed the bill for the emergency response and cleanup. Also involved are Anadarko Petroleum and Cameron International.
here

The first trial over the disaster is scheduled to start 27 February in New Orleans. It is expected to last three months and determine the liability of each company involved in drilling the Macondo well. There will be other phases over cleanup costs, punitive damages and other claims.

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Deepwater Horizon: Anadarko settles with BP

BP has reached a $4bn (£2.5bn) settlement with a former partner in its Deepwater Horizon oil rig over claims related to last year's deadly explosion and oil spill at the offshore drilling platform.

Anadarko Petroleum's payment will form part of BP's $20bn compensation trust fund, set up to compensate victims and help pay for the clean-up after the fatal fire that killed 11 people and led to the largest oil spill in US history. Anadarko also agreed to drop its gross negligence claims against BP.

Texas-based Anadarko held a 25% stake in the Macondo well and has agreed to hand that to BP in return for a share of any funds BP recovers from third parties or insurance.

The settlement follows other agreements with Deepwater partners. In May, BP announced an agreement with MOEX Offshore 2007, a unit of Japan's Mitsui which owned 10% of the well. It agreed to pay BP $1bn. The following month Weatherford International, a Switzerland-based contractor that supplied parts to the rig, agreed to pay $75m to the trust fund to settle claims between itself and BP.
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Deepwater Horizon: litigation frenzy

The Swiss-incorporated, Houston-based drilling contractor is caught in a litigation frenzy over claims related to the blowout of BP’s Macondo well on Apr. 20, 2010 involving British Petroleum; Halliburton (HAL), which did cement work; and several other companies, including Anadarko Petroleum (AAPC), one of the minority stakeholders in the well, and Cameron International (CAM), manufacturer of a critical piece of safety equipment known as the blowout preventer. They are wrestling over who will get stuck with tens of billions of dollars in environmental damages. Its June 22 investigative report alleged that BP used a risky well design, skimped on the heavy drilling mud needed to hold back high-pressure hydrocarbons, and kept changing its plans in a way that invited disaster. The British company revised its plans for temporarily sealing Macondo five times in the two weeks preceding the blowout, according to Transocean. The fateful changes “were driven by BP’s knowledge that the geological window for safe drilling was becoming increasingly narrow.”
Lloyd’s of London may cover BP’s “excess liability” in cleanup and other costs. under its Transocean contract affording protection to pollution “originating above the surface of the land or water.”

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Deepwater Horizon: RIG blasts BP

Transocean Ltd.'s (RIG) internal investigation blames decisions by BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, contrasting with at least two earlier reports from U.S. government agencies that put a large share of the blame on Transocean.
wsj
report RIG
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Helga Spirit: arriving West Coast with ESPO

Destination: ANACORTES,USA ETA: 2011-02-20 03:30

BP booked Helga Spirit to carry 100,000 metric tons of oil loading from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino, the delivery point for East Siberian Pipeline Oil. The West Coast area, known as the Petroleum Administration Defense District, or PADD 5, imported 105,000 barrels a day of Russian oil in October 2010, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. The region includes California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. There are a little over 7 barrels of petroleum in a metric ton. Crude in London rose to the highest in more than two years as civil unrest spread in the Middle East. BP has about 500,000 barrels a day of refining capacity on the U.S. West Coast, including in Washington and California.

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Helga Spirit: Teekay tanker loads BP ESPO crude

BP fixes cargo of ESPO crude for US West Coast Helga Spirit would load at Kozmino Jan. 20 Fixture comes as Alaska pipe snag threatens USWC

Crude in storage in Alaska's Valdez terminal has dwindled to below 20 percent of tank capacity
BP Plc fixed a tanker cargo of Russia's ESPO crude for shipment to the U.S. West Coast after a shutdown of Alaska's main oil pipeline prompted some oil companies to look at foreign crude substitutes.

BP was said to fix the 115,000 deadweight ton Helga Spirit tanker to load Eastern Siberian pipeline crude on Jan. 20, two shipping sources said.

The tanker would hold around 850,000 barrels of ESPO,. Helga Spirit was last seen moored in southern Japan . ESPO loads at Kozmino Port, near Vladivostok in Russia's Far East.

The Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), which normally ships around 640,000 barrels per day -- or 12 percent of U.S. oil output -- was closed for 84 hours this week, temporarily shutting in most of Alaska's oil production. The closure followed a small leak discovered on Jan. 8.

Concerns about potential supply shortfalls from Alaska had U.S. West Coast refiners on their feet this week, looking at cargoes that could substitute Alaska North Slope crude if the pipeline problems persisted.

BP, which is also the top producer in Alaska and the top stakeholder in TAPS, has about 500,000 barrels a day of refining capacity on the U.S. West Coast, including in Washington and California.

Several Aframax cargoes of ESPO have been sent to the U.S. West Coast (USWC) before. BP is not known to charter regular shipments to the region but has typically fixed ESPO cargoes for delivery to Japan or Korea.

TAPS resumed shipments on an emergency basis on Tuesday, but is expected to shut down again over the weekend as operator Alyeska installs a bypass pipe around the leak. That process could take a few days, Alyeska said, after which TAPS is expected to resume normal shipments.
It takes around 15 days to ship crude between Kozmino and Los Angeles.



Ship Name: HELGA SPIRIT
IMO: 9292503 MMSI: 311727000
Callsign: C6FZ3
Flag: Bahamas

Flag: Bahamas Signal Letters: C6FZ3
Port: NASSAU

Owner: Helga Spirit L.L.C GT (ITC 69): 62,929 NT (ITC 69): 34,548
Manager: TeeKay Shipping (Glasgow) Ltd. DWT: 115,514

DocHolder: Teekay Shipping Limited
Year of Build: 2005
Type: 101 - Tanker for Oil

More Tankers More Pirates

A crude oil spill in the booster pump room basement at Pump Station 1 in Prudhoe Bay Alaska may send more crude tankers through the Gulf of Aden. The northeast monsoon affects the Horn of Africa more directly than the southwest monsoon, thus piracy from small boats is likely to move deeper into the Gulf of Aden, December to March. Demand may be strengthened by the closing of a pipeline feeding Alaskan crude oil to other U.S. states. The shutdown may prompt U.S. refineries to bolster imports of crude from overseas. The Trans-Alaska pipeline system, which transports oil from the Prudhoe Bay field, was closed on Saturday following the discovery of a leak. A BP spokesman based in America described the leak as "a significant event" and it is not clear how long it will take to restart production.
Prudhoe Bay is America's largest oil reserve. BP is the largest shareholder in the company which runs the Trans-Alaska pipeline, called Alyeska Pipeline Service. The leak occurred at a pumping station at Alaska's North Slope, and forced 95% of oil production at the site to be cut off. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the pipeline's operator, has engineers working around the clock to restart the pipeline by constructing a 170-foot, 24-inch bypass section around the pump station where a leak was discovered Saturday in Prudhoe Bay. Charter rates for very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, declined because of a surplus of ships for hire. The Baltic Dirty Tanker Index, a wider measure of crude-oil transportation costs, fell 1.7 percent to 763 points.

Deepwater Horizon: Smit Salvage on stand

The joint investigation hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster began its fifth round of questioning in New Orleans on October 4, 2010. here

Deepwater Horizon: 200 lawyers

NEW ORLEANS (CN sep 17, 2010) - More than 200 attorneys filled three courtrooms Thursday for a pretrial conference to chart the course of litigation for hundreds of lawsuits involving the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. Presiding Judge Carl J. Barbier apologized that the courtroom was not large enough. "Unfortunately, this is the largest we have," he said to the roomful of more than 150 attorneys, packed along walls to the back doors.
The location was changed last minute from Judge Barbier's courtroom to larger courtroom in the Federal Courthouse, and two overspill rooms were opened before the hearing began.
"I'm not sure how many cases we already have," Barbier said, explaining that some cases from other courts have yet to be transferred to the Eastern District of Louisiana.
"Certainly there are currently hundreds and there will be hundreds, if not thousands more, filed," he said. "On top of all that, investigations by the federal government seeking criminal and civil damages are pending."
In August, a federal panel of judges selected New Orleans as the venue for all Deepwater Horizon oil spill-related lawsuits. The panel also appointed Judge Barbier.
FT read more

Deepwater Horizon: second pipe running

This crisp image taken after the section of tubing called a riser had been lifted to the dock. It's the clearest sign yet to back up the theory that a second drill pipe was also running into the blowout preventer, the huge system of valves and rams that are designed to close in the well in an emergency, and fouled up the works when the well blew.

,Anadarko Petroleum, has a 25 percent stake in the project, and its joint operating agreement with BP gives it a 25 percent share of the liability, a potentially ruinous amount. “The mounting evidence clearly demonstrates that this tragedy was preventable and the direct result of BP’s reckless decisions and actions,”

Mitsui Oil Exploration Company of Japan, which owns the remaining 10 percent of the well, said the company had given up its interest in oil from the well. The company may be hoping that relinquishing its interest will shield it from liability,

Lloyd’s of London may cover BP’s “excess liability” in cleanup and other costs. under its Transocean contract affording protection to pollution “originating above the surface of the land or water.”

Horizon: taking the fifth, resignation

The buck stops here.

Mercado/ Deepwater Horizon/Well site leader Bob Kaluza -- who held the position traditionally known as "company man" -- didn't show up after being listed as witnesses for Tuesday's hearing. Kaluza's lawyer said he was exercising his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Tony Hayward the chief executive of oil giant BP, the leaseholder of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded April 20, 2010 is said to be negotiating his withdrawal.

Development Driller: pulling up pipe

Development Driller II (left) and Development Driller III, which are drilling the relief wells at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico.
Crews of vessels, including one boring the tunnel meant to kill the flow of crude for good, spent Friday hauling in their gear and getting out of the storm's way. Workers were pulling up a mile of pipe in 40-to-60-foot sections and laying it on deck of the drilling rig so they could move to safer water, probably to the southwest flank of the storm. earlier blog

Deepwater Horizon: take good care of yourself

you belong to me...old song

MARINE SAFETY ADVISORY NO. 45-10- Excerpts



Date: 11 May 2010
1. Operators of Marshall Islands flagged MODUs, regardless of where the unit operates, should:

a. Verify that all well control equipment and procedures are in compliance with applicable coastal State requirements;
b. Review all emergency shutdown and dynamic positioning procedures that interface with emergency well control operations to ensure they are appropriate and that personnel are familiar with them;
c. Inspect lifesaving and firefighting equipment for compliance with Marshall Islands requirements;
d. Ensure that all persons on board are familiar with emergency/firefighting equipment, as well as participate in an abandon ship drill. Operators are reminded that the review of emergency equipment and drills should be conducted after each crew change;
e. Review equipment maintenance and testing procedures to ensure the unit’s emergency source of power is operating properly and is tested regularly.