Texas A&M Professor: 'Agrees' Gulf Rig Cement or Casing Failed
May 11 2010 - 11:22AM
Dow Jones News
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Transocean Ltd. (RIG) on Tuesday got
support for its argument that the cement or pipe known as casing
must have failed and caused the April 20 oil-rig explosion in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Transocean Chief Executive Steve Newman will tell the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee later Tuesday that "the one
thing we know with certainty" is that in the blast "there was a
sudden, catastrophic failure of the cement, the casing or
both."
"I agree," F. E. Beck, a petroleum engineer at Texas A & M
University told the Senate committee. But he said that the wellhead
casing "is also suspect."
Halliburton Corp. (HAL) was responsible for the cement work,
which involves filling up a space between the hole bored into the
sea floor and the casing inserted into the hole.
Halliburton's chief safety officer, Tim Probert, won't say
whether the company's cementing work was faulty, but he will
testify later that "confirming cement integrity" is up to the well
owner, who can always "elect to perform remedial action" by
perforating the well's casing and "squeezing cement into the
remaining voids to improve the integrity of the original
cement."
-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654;
siobhan.hughes@dowjones.com
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