Halliburton Cement Well Test: Judge Orders Test Immediately On Blown Out Gulf Well

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A federal judge is ordering tests to be performed as soon as possible on cement Halliburton Co. used to seal the BP well that blew out catastrophically in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said some of the components may be "deteriorating over time" and that tests should be done "as soon as reasonably practicable."

Barbier is overseeing lawsuits filed after the BP-leased rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off a massive oil spill.

Halliburton's cementing work on the well has jumped to the forefront of investigations into the explosion.

On Thursday, the president's oil spill commission said tests performed before the blowout should have raised doubts about the cement used to seal the well.

Comments

[Mz Fang]

01:20 AM on 10/30/2010

Imagine that... The same company that bills the U.S. Army (your tax dollars) a charge of $100 per load to do laundry for our troops in the field is also responsible for our worst ecological disaster...

[getoffmedz]

10:23 PM on 10/30/2010

Responsible in part. BP knew the concrete mix was not compliant over a month before the explosion.

[mlaiuppa]

03:10 PM on 10/29/2010

So Halliburton did four tests. Three shows cement was not reliably stable and it passed a fourth.

They also didn't report the results of all of the tests.

This tells me two things.

Halliburton continued to test until they got a passing grade.

They only reported the passing grade.

This is SOP with big business.

Who says we don't need government regulations and independent testing, auditing and oversight?

[getoffmedz]

02:45 PM on 10/29/2010

BP knew the Halliburton mix did not comply with standards on March 8th and did NOTHING to prevent the use of the non-compliant sealer.

FACT.

[Almondo]

04:31 AM on 10/30/2010

Just more of the pattern of pathological reckless criminal conduct by BP.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bp-has-been-fined-by-osha-760-times-has-an-awful-track-record-for-safety-2010-6

They need to be prosecuted.

[getoffmedz]

10:21 PM on 10/30/2010

We may just get our wish.

The BP disaster site is now being treated like a crime scene.