BP Takes The Fifth Again

This is from the MSNBC coverage of the hearings on the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon: BP was warned of gas danger, contractor says

HOUSTON — A contractor to BP testified Tuesday that he warned BP that it risked gas leaks in the Macondo well if it cut back on stabilizers for the pipe going down the hole. The warning, he told the Coast Guard-led inquiry into the disaster, was sent via e-mails to BP engineers, including one who refused to testify on Tuesday.

Jesse Gagliano, a technical advisor for Halliburton, which was contracted to cement the well, testified that two days before the explosion he sent BP a computer model showing severe risk of gas flowing into the cemented well if it used fewer than seven “centralizers” at different depths of the pipe.

“I notified BP of the potential issue,” he said, adding that in addition to e-mails he shared his concerns with BP engineers with whom he shared an office.

A BP lawyer who cross-examined Gagliano noted that three days after the explosion — in which gas surged up the drill pipe, causing a fireball — Gagliano wrote a report that never mentioned concerns about the stabilizers.

Earlier Tuesday, BP engineer Brian Morel invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself by answering questions.

The problems with the well were known to everyone working on the project, but BP still cut corners with a disastrous result. That’s why BP officials keep refusing to testify under oath, while all of the other people involved are willing to go on the record.

This is about ensuring that the drilling pipe is centered inside the casing and not touching it at any point so that the cement will set without any gaps or weak spots.