This morning, I was invited to appear on Fox News America’s Newsroom to talk about the blowout on BP’s Mississippi Canyon Block 252 well. Here’s the segment:
Comments
stexcatsays
Good explanation, Bob. Hell, even I understood what you were saying.
Great interview Bob, you nailed it.
I can’t believe she asked if there was any chance this was done intentionally. That’s the Fox News I’ve come to know and love.
The news actress looked like you were speaking Greek. You looked truthful but not accusatory. I was hoping you’d slip a ‘teabagger’ reference in their somewhere. 🙂
Hmmmmm…..eljefe and Fox News.
Now THERE’S something you don’t usually see in the same sentence!!
Good job, Bob! (Sure hope they don’t cherry pick your words later on, to make it appear you said something you didn’t……)
Nice interview. Too bad the interviewer wasn’t quite bright enough to follow it. I loved the little (and very brief) amazed smile in response to the interviewer’s question about whether this might’ve been a terrorist act. That was excellent self control, especially in mustering a good response to the ridiculous question!
I have not heard such an well explained assessment on fox news in a long time, if ever. I know nothing about the industry and i could follow this.
It made me realize how they, fox, dumb down the news, not explain things well or deliberately lie about something, so they can put their on spin on it.
She just was interested in possible terrorism. When something else was explained, she couldn’t cope.
Let’s not ring the FOX News “all clear” horn yet. I understand Fox is preparing to “air” how dolphins have been trained in Oman to carry explosives to great depths, perhaps, even, to blow up deepwater oil wells and drilling platforms. I think they actually have an interview with one of the dolphins. Backlit of course and with his voice alterred.
I’m working on an independent confirmation of this.
ROFL Bob spends 5 minutes explaining why something looks wrong and blondie asks “does anything look amiss here?”. I don’t know, Blondie, why don’t you take a boat down the old Miss and see.
Well done, Bob! Did you have to detox after?
It’s simplistic. Yes, cementing can sometimes upset the balance of a well and create a situation that could lead to a blowout. But that’s not Halliburton’s fault. The fault for this blowout is Transocean not paying attention to the signs of an impending blowout. Pit gain, the well flowing on it’s own, pressure build if you shut it in, gas in the mud. They were not watching for this, in my opinion.
Eljefebob, I never watch Fox, so wouldn’t have seen your interview if you hadn’t posted it. You are a brave man.
My oldest son, who works for BP in California, called me this morning. He was most impressed I knew what a BOP was and could discuss the situation somewhat intelligently, thanks to you.
I agree with stexcat, that listening to your TV explanation, I was finally able to understand what written reports had said. What with the BOPs, rams, and what not. Furthermore, props to you for sticking your neck out (as if you never do, ha) and saying some people were not watching the “lights on the dashboard” (my expression) because a well doesn’t just blow up without warning.
Cool…I’m surprised that someone with your ‘reputation’ could get on their show. Now, I’ve got to go back and put all the mental pieces back in place… :O)
Well, as Shortstuff said, You and Fox was a combination I never saw coming. I would suggest you take a very hot shower and then read something by Kurt Vonnegut, Tim Robbins, Steven King, Herman Wouk, Leon Uris, (basically any book with words*), to inoculate yourself against any germs that cause mind boggling ignorance. They seem to run rampant at FOX, and are apparently capable of being transmitted through television, e-mail or phone. I only hope it’s not too late.
* Avoid all books that were ghostwritten and contain the word “Rouge” in the title. These will only exacerbate the ignorance germ to the point where it is almost impossible to cure.
Of course I was just kidding about the TDH plug. You did a great job and having sat through an interview or two (not of that high exposure) it is especially difficult to come off sounding intelligent when questions are inane. The interviewing art is dead over there at the fake news network. You did the best you could with what they laid out for you…..
“Is it possible for leprechauns to do deep sea dive and sabotage the pipe or do you think this was the work of the Blank panthers?”
47 bbl nitrified cement job on a 7 X 9 5/8″ production csg string to +/- 15,500 ft. Pretty light cement job for that much annular volume. It likely was a backside blowout, but the csg was already hung off in the well-head. They had displaced to seawater and had set at least 1 balanced cmt plug in the csg. So, it should have been DP across the BOP. They were less than 20 hours from moving off, so they wouldn’t have had a test tool in there either.
The DeepH2O Horizon completed the Tiber well to over 35,000 ft just a few months ago. I am not sure I would lay all the blame on RIG for this one.
I love watching the ticker on Fox News when they do these sort of interviews.
If anyone noticed when the blondebot starting asking her leading question, if it could have been sabotage, a blurp about an Islamic terrorist killing CIA agents came on. So while she was asking, twice I might add, Arab names and names of middle eastern countries came across.
Just a coincidence? Maybe…
Great interview Bob. Now remember, when removing toxins use a hard bristled brush and lots of soap when you shower. 😉
Interesting theory. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that FOX manipulated the ticker to trigger a response from their audience.
.
Lord knows it doesn’t take much to plant something in the average Fox viewers head.
If it was just DP across the BOP, why didn’t the blind/shear rams work? And didn’t they have multiple remote panels for the stack on board? But I agree, great explanation.
Wow. Interesting observation. That kind of thing does happen, though. I once worked at a television station. One member of the camera crew spotted subliminal messages (illegal at the time) in an ad the station was scheduled to run. He was right and it was pulled from rotation.
Great explanation.
One question: the blowout occurs outside casing but pictures clearly show oil puking out of the riser. When does it get inside the casing?
I didn’t hear any of the details. Is there a magnetized stinger available that you could run on the end of some drill pipe that or lighter flex pipe that you could stab into the leaking Pipe at those depths?
I don’t believe it gets inside the casing. Descriptions to me are that the casing was hung in the casing head on the ocean floor. The well is flowing outside of that string of pipe, through the casing hanger (if it’s even there) up into the riser, some coming directly up the riser, some finding it’s way into the drill pipe on the inside. Remember, they were displacing the riser with seawater, so to do that, they would have had drill pipe inside hung just above the BOP. I know it’s all pretty confusing.
OMG! Bob was on TV!
Your explanation sounds interesting and very possible. I do know they have all kinds of gauges the operators need to be watching and I suppose if they were off doing something else they could have missed a crucial indicator that could have warned them something was amiss.
I’m just wondering what could have been done to prevent this tragedy had they noted that the well was seeping or whatever outside the cemented casing instead of within it. Could something have been done at that point or would they just have sounded the alarm to get everyone evacuated?
Or did I just misunderstand what you said altogether??
btw( you did very well in your interview and looked good too,Bob):)
Good explanation, Bob. Hell, even I understood what you were saying.
Great interview Bob, you nailed it.
I can’t believe she asked if there was any chance this was done intentionally. That’s the Fox News I’ve come to know and love.
The news actress looked like you were speaking Greek. You looked truthful but not accusatory. I was hoping you’d slip a ‘teabagger’ reference in their somewhere. 🙂
Hmmmmm…..eljefe and Fox News.
Now THERE’S something you don’t usually see in the same sentence!!
Good job, Bob! (Sure hope they don’t cherry pick your words later on, to make it appear you said something you didn’t……)
And you couldn’t throw out a plug for TDH? Geez……..
Nice interview. Too bad the interviewer wasn’t quite bright enough to follow it. I loved the little (and very brief) amazed smile in response to the interviewer’s question about whether this might’ve been a terrorist act. That was excellent self control, especially in mustering a good response to the ridiculous question!
Thanks, Bob. Very informative. Your educated, forthright and honest delivery is something that is not the norm for them . . .
Is it just ME or does it appear that whenever something bad happens in the oil and gas bidness BP isn’t far away?
Bob, what’s your take on this?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/halliburton-may-be-culpri_n_558481.html
I have not heard such an well explained assessment on fox news in a long time, if ever. I know nothing about the industry and i could follow this.
It made me realize how they, fox, dumb down the news, not explain things well or deliberately lie about something, so they can put their on spin on it.
She just was interested in possible terrorism. When something else was explained, she couldn’t cope.
Let’s not ring the FOX News “all clear” horn yet. I understand Fox is preparing to “air” how dolphins have been trained in Oman to carry explosives to great depths, perhaps, even, to blow up deepwater oil wells and drilling platforms. I think they actually have an interview with one of the dolphins. Backlit of course and with his voice alterred.
I’m working on an independent confirmation of this.
ROFL Bob spends 5 minutes explaining why something looks wrong and blondie asks “does anything look amiss here?”. I don’t know, Blondie, why don’t you take a boat down the old Miss and see.
Well done, Bob! Did you have to detox after?
Great job, El Jefe, but I’m afraid you lost Martha after “…that’s a really important question”.
It’s simplistic. Yes, cementing can sometimes upset the balance of a well and create a situation that could lead to a blowout. But that’s not Halliburton’s fault. The fault for this blowout is Transocean not paying attention to the signs of an impending blowout. Pit gain, the well flowing on it’s own, pressure build if you shut it in, gas in the mud. They were not watching for this, in my opinion.
Eljefebob, I never watch Fox, so wouldn’t have seen your interview if you hadn’t posted it. You are a brave man.
My oldest son, who works for BP in California, called me this morning. He was most impressed I knew what a BOP was and could discuss the situation somewhat intelligently, thanks to you.
Thanks! That’s why I wanted your opinion on this article…TMI out there and not all correct.
I agree with stexcat, that listening to your TV explanation, I was finally able to understand what written reports had said. What with the BOPs, rams, and what not. Furthermore, props to you for sticking your neck out (as if you never do, ha) and saying some people were not watching the “lights on the dashboard” (my expression) because a well doesn’t just blow up without warning.
Cool…I’m surprised that someone with your ‘reputation’ could get on their show. Now, I’ve got to go back and put all the mental pieces back in place… :O)
Well, as Shortstuff said, You and Fox was a combination I never saw coming. I would suggest you take a very hot shower and then read something by Kurt Vonnegut, Tim Robbins, Steven King, Herman Wouk, Leon Uris, (basically any book with words*), to inoculate yourself against any germs that cause mind boggling ignorance. They seem to run rampant at FOX, and are apparently capable of being transmitted through television, e-mail or phone. I only hope it’s not too late.
* Avoid all books that were ghostwritten and contain the word “Rouge” in the title. These will only exacerbate the ignorance germ to the point where it is almost impossible to cure.
Of course I was just kidding about the TDH plug. You did a great job and having sat through an interview or two (not of that high exposure) it is especially difficult to come off sounding intelligent when questions are inane. The interviewing art is dead over there at the fake news network. You did the best you could with what they laid out for you…..
“Is it possible for leprechauns to do deep sea dive and sabotage the pipe or do you think this was the work of the Blank panthers?”
47 bbl nitrified cement job on a 7 X 9 5/8″ production csg string to +/- 15,500 ft. Pretty light cement job for that much annular volume. It likely was a backside blowout, but the csg was already hung off in the well-head. They had displaced to seawater and had set at least 1 balanced cmt plug in the csg. So, it should have been DP across the BOP. They were less than 20 hours from moving off, so they wouldn’t have had a test tool in there either.
The DeepH2O Horizon completed the Tiber well to over 35,000 ft just a few months ago. I am not sure I would lay all the blame on RIG for this one.
I love watching the ticker on Fox News when they do these sort of interviews.
If anyone noticed when the blondebot starting asking her leading question, if it could have been sabotage, a blurp about an Islamic terrorist killing CIA agents came on. So while she was asking, twice I might add, Arab names and names of middle eastern countries came across.
Just a coincidence? Maybe…
Great interview Bob. Now remember, when removing toxins use a hard bristled brush and lots of soap when you shower. 😉
Interesting theory. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that FOX manipulated the ticker to trigger a response from their audience.
.
Lord knows it doesn’t take much to plant something in the average Fox viewers head.
Good information. Thanks.
If it was just DP across the BOP, why didn’t the blind/shear rams work? And didn’t they have multiple remote panels for the stack on board? But I agree, great explanation.
Wow. Interesting observation. That kind of thing does happen, though. I once worked at a television station. One member of the camera crew spotted subliminal messages (illegal at the time) in an ad the station was scheduled to run. He was right and it was pulled from rotation.
Thank you for that clear explanation, Bob.
Happens all the time. Fox News is not the only one to do this.
Great explanation.
One question: the blowout occurs outside casing but pictures clearly show oil puking out of the riser. When does it get inside the casing?
I didn’t hear any of the details. Is there a magnetized stinger available that you could run on the end of some drill pipe that or lighter flex pipe that you could stab into the leaking Pipe at those depths?
I don’t believe it gets inside the casing. Descriptions to me are that the casing was hung in the casing head on the ocean floor. The well is flowing outside of that string of pipe, through the casing hanger (if it’s even there) up into the riser, some coming directly up the riser, some finding it’s way into the drill pipe on the inside. Remember, they were displacing the riser with seawater, so to do that, they would have had drill pipe inside hung just above the BOP. I know it’s all pretty confusing.
OMG! Bob was on TV!
Your explanation sounds interesting and very possible. I do know they have all kinds of gauges the operators need to be watching and I suppose if they were off doing something else they could have missed a crucial indicator that could have warned them something was amiss.
I’m just wondering what could have been done to prevent this tragedy had they noted that the well was seeping or whatever outside the cemented casing instead of within it. Could something have been done at that point or would they just have sounded the alarm to get everyone evacuated?
Or did I just misunderstand what you said altogether??
btw( you did very well in your interview and looked good too,Bob):)