Sometimes I think they are doing this just to annoy me!

Questions and comments about BP’s response

Why didn't BP do what it is doing now, installing a valve on top of the blowout preventer (BOP), immediately after it was clear that the BOP was not functioning? It would have meant a few days of higher flow and then the well would have been shut down or at least under better control.

I watched the cutting of the riser pipe and the installation of the LMRP and it was extremely frustrating to see how BP and its contractors ran into problems that would they would have known about if they had done a dry run on the deck of one of the workboats.

Why didn’t BP have more collection capacity on site once they did install the LMRP?

That floating riser they are implementing is pretty neat. My question is why all the deep wells don’t have that as a matter of course? In a previous exploration accident, Thunder Horse, a very similar accident to this one occurred but the BOP worked. Transocean and BP still had to deal with the debris from the fallen riser fouling the sea floor around the well head. If all these rigs were required to have floating riser/drill strings then if there was a kick and the drill ship had to disconnect then you would be dealing with something at say 200 feet and not 5000 feet.

One reason why I find this situation so infuriating is that I am an out of work engineer who is always being told that I don't have the experience needed to work in a field that I have not worked in before, like oil and gas, and yet I see the supposed experts mismanaging what should have been clear cut response.