The lead investigator for the presidential panel examining the Deepwater Horizon accident yesterday said he has found no evidence that anyone involved in the Macondo well took shortcuts to save money.

Fred H. Bartlit Jr. told the commission, "To date we have not seen a single instance where a human being made a conscious decision to favor dollars over safety." His findings disputed the claims of members of Congress and other investigators who have accused BP, Transocean and Halliburton of cutting corners. The Macondo well blowout killed 11 workers and resulted in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

After hearing Bartlit's preliminary findings into the causes of the accident, Commission co-chairman William Reilly told... more »

High seas have forced BP to postpone efforts to remove the containment cap on the Macondo well. The company says engineers are standing by, waiting to remove the cap and the battered blowout preventer (BOP) before replacing the BOP with one from the Deepwater Driller II. No oil is expected to be spilled during the operation.

In related news today:

• Bloomberg reports that BP engineers misread pressure data on the Macondo well before the explosion and fire. Their positive interpretation of the data led to the decision to replace the heavy drilling fluids with lighter seawater, which could not prevent natural gas from rising from the well leading to the explosion and fire.
• Platts reports that two more sessions of hearings are likely to be held before the national commission investigating the... more »

The first tropical storm of the season has veered away from the Gulf oil spill, allowing engineers to continue siphoning oil and gas from the leaking Macondo well.

BP reports that approximately 22,750 barrels of oil were collected or flared on Saturday.

BP also is making preparations for the installation of a floating riser containment system. The company says the system will be connected to the Helix Producer vessel and will be able to handle 20,000-25,000 barrels of oil per day, raising the daily oil and gas containment capacity to 40,000-50,000 barrels by late June or early July.

The first relief well is making steady progress toward intercepting the wellbore of the Macondo well. It has reached a depth of 16,546 feet and is using high-tech equipment to precisely locate the wellbore. Th... more »

The Department of the Interior (DOI) late yesterday sent out a list of new safety requirements to offshore drillers as pressure mounted against the drilling moratorium.

The requirements, issued as a Notice to Lessees (NTL), requires the CEOs of offshore companies to certify they are in compliance will all regulations. In addition, the operators must provide certification from a professional engineer of all well casing and cement design requirements as well as independent third-party verification that the blowout preventer will operate properly.

API supports the goal of making offshore energy production as safe and environmentally sensitive as possible, but it encouraged the administration to reconsider the deepwater drilling moratorium. "Independent analyses have indicated the six-month mo... more »

BP has received permission to launch the "top kill" procedure on the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. This means engineers can begin pumping heavy drilling fluids into the blowout preventer (BOP) and the wellbore in hopes of stopping the oil leaks.

When the top kill is deployed, major changes will be seen in the live video feed of the oil and natural gas flowing from the broken riser. As the drilling fluids are pumped through hoses into the BOP, some of the fluids--also called muds--are likely to come from the riser along with the oil and gas. If the fluids can be pumped fast enough into the BOP--at a rate of 40 or 50 barrels per minute--a large amount of fluid should be forced down into the wellbore, which could plug the well by counteracting the underground pressure that is forcing oi... more »