WE have known for some time that a flaw in the cement used on BP's Macondo well contributed to the disastrous April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. What we did not know, until now, was that both BP and Halliburton, the company BP hired to cement the well, appear to have been aware that the mixture was prone to failure – and went ahead anyway, said The New York Times in an editorial published Friday. Excerpts: This disturbing disclosure is contained in a new report from the presidential commission investigating the explosion. It is sure to cause another round of “not me” blame-shifting between BP and Halliburton. BP has identified the inadequate cement job as a major factor in the explosion and faulted Halliburton, on which it obviously hopes to offload some of its legal and financial responsibilities. The report has plenty of blame to go around. And it leaves the clear impression that two of the most important players in the risky world of deep-water drilling were doing their job on the cheap. According to the report, Halliburton conducted three tests on the cement mixture it planned to use. All showed the mixture to be unstable and thus vulnerable to the high-pressure pool of oil and gas at the bottom of the well. It said Halliburton provided the results of one of these tests to BP on March 8 and that BP failed to act on it: “There is no indication that Halliburton highlighted to BP the significance of the foam instability data or that BP personnel raised any questions about it.” Halliburton carried out a fourth, and differently designed, test that suggested the cement slurry was stable. But there is no doubt that the mixture This is also one more reminder of why the Senate must rouse itself and pass an oil spill bill tightly regulating the drilling industry. __
