DeGette Questions BP CEO Tony Hayward

initial testimony you testified that BP has drilled hundreds of wells around the world how many of them are deepwater wells I don't know the precise number but we drill a lot of deepwater wells in various parts of the world okay you don't know how many do you think that BP swells respective of where they are drilled should be drilled to the highest industry standards I believe that's what we're trying to do so your answer would be yes mm-hmm okay and as this wheel was being drilled were you informed as CEO of the company of the progress of the well I was not you were not okay now before I continue I know you've had difficulty answering some of the technical questions members have asked you so I know you brought a technical expert with you mr. Zanghi would you like us to swear him in so he can help you answer some of my technical questions I think that depends on the question all right well let's see how it goes now mr. Hayward you said that you received the the Chairman's June 14th letter to you which talks about five decisions that compromise the safety of this well well-designed centralizer cement bond log mud circulation and lockdown sleeve I want to ask you in my questioning about one of those issues and that's the cement bond log first thing I want you to do if you can take that notebook that's to your left open it up in the front flap there is a memo which was written from Brian morale to Richard Miller on Wednesday April 14th and that memo says this has been a nightmare well which has everyone all over the place did anybody inform you as CEO of the country and company in April of this year that this was a nightmare well they did not did you did you subsequently see this memo have you seen this mess well this memo when it was raised by your committee and that's the first you ever heard the first thought the first you ever heard of it being an Mayr well when I first saw this okay now now let's talk for a minute about the cementing job because all of the testimony that we've had in this committee through our hearings also in the Natural Resources Committee through their hearings indicates that the the choices that BP made in and its subcontractors in order to save money led to blind faith in a successful cementing job let me just walk through it first so that you can understand first of all BP chose a riskier well design and the chairman chairman waxman talked about this for a moment the best practice would have been to use a liner and a tie back which provides for barriers to prevent the flow of dangerous hydrocarbons to the wellhead instead BP as the chairman said chose a long string approach which has only two barriers an internal document of the company warned that this approach was not recommended because quote cementing simulations indicate it's unlikely to be a successful cement job and you can look at tab 6 of the notebook that you have in front of you to see that mr. Hayward it says cement simulations indicate it is unlikely to be a successful cement job due to formulation breakdown this is an internal BP confidential document for mid-april have you seen this document before I saw it as a consequence of the legislation did not see it at the time I did notice but there were BP folks who saw it correct your knowledge there was suddenly BP people who saw this okay secondly so the document says there would be a potential need to verify with a bond log and perform a remedial cement job but BP chose the riskier approach secondly BP chose the riskier centralizer option experts have told us in testimony to this committee that the best practice would have been you to use 21 centralizers but b.p only used six if you take a look at tab 8 it says on page 18 it says you did this even though you're cement or Halliburton said this would create a quote severe risk that the cement job would fail it says based on an it says it says that it would be a severe risk and be peace operations drilling into engineer wrote about this decision who cares it's done end of story will probably be fine and get a good cement job were you aware of that document at the time mr. Hayward I was not aware of any of these done and when did you learn about that memo that memo was was again when I was made aware of it by your committee and but you wouldn't deny that BP employees and supervisors were aware of that document at the time correct there were people in BP who were aware would you say that it's the best business practices to say who cares it's done end of story we'll probably be fine and we'll get a good cement job I think that email is a cause for concern I'd like to understand the context in which it was sent and as I've said a number of times if there is any evidence that people put costs ahead of safety okay I would take action I understand let me finish with the cement bond with now now you would BP failed to perform the most effective tests that that was known to determine whether the cement was properly sealed and that's the cement bond log test there was a contractor Schlumberger on board hired to perform this test but they were sent away eleven hours prior to the explosion this test was described by Halliburton's chief Safety Officer Tim Probert as quote the only test that can really determine the actual effectiveness of the bond between the cement sheets the formation and the casing itself now the committee has has consulted an independent expert who said that cement bond logs should always be used another's expert said it is unheard of not to perform this test he called your decision and I'm quoting horribly negligent so I want to ask you a question do you think a CEO of this company it was a mistake not to conduct the cement bond log test that is what our investigation will determine as would be yes it was a mistake correct I'm not able to answer yes or no until the investigation is complete when the investor's why yours told you not to or was simply because I wasn't involved I'm sorry okay but Jude but you just said you you think that all the evidence shows it was a mistake correct that is not correct as I said do you think it was all right not to condemn think I think we need to complete the investigation okay and determine whether running a cement bond log or not would have created a major difference to what happened here okay the wrong let me ask you this are you aware of the fact it would have cost about a hundred and twenty eight thousand dollars and taken nine to twelve hours to complete the cement bond log test I am aware of that science yes yes okay okay I yield back Thank You mr. chairman thank you mr. Doyle for questions please

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Keywords: Rep DeGette, Diana DeGette, Energy and Commerce, BP, Tony Hayward, Oil Spill

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Length: 8min 8sec (488 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 17 2010