BP oil disaster showed cement flaws
Published:Friday | October 29, 2010 | 8:56 AM
US investigators have found that the firms drilling a British Petroleum (BP) Gulf of Mexico oil well had tests showing that cement used to seal it before it blew out was unstable.
The findings conflict with statements by US oil contractor Halliburton, which supplied the cement.
A presidential panel on the disaster found that three tests prior to the blowout showed the opposite of the claims made by Halliburton.
The April 20 rig explosion killed 11 workers and caused a massive oil leak.
The blowout on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was owned by Transcoean and under contract to BP.
The incident caused the pollution of hundreds of miles of shoreline and disruption of tourism and fishing before the leaking Macondo well was capped on July 15.