MarketWatch May 18, 2010, 1:51 p.m. EDT
BP ignored siphon-pipe suggestion, oil-spill expert says
By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- An offshore-oil consultant suggested that BP PLC use a mile-long pipe to minimize damage from its big leak in the Gulf of Mexico weeks before the company reported some success with the technique.
If BP (NYSE:BP) had followed his suggestion sooner, thousands of barrels of oil could have been contained, according to Gerald Graham, an oil-spill specialist with his own firm, Worldocean Consulting Ltd. of Victoria, British Columbia.
In an April 29 email, Graham urged the company to deploy "5,000-foot long hoses ... at the points where the leaks are, with a view to siphoning the oil off to the ocean's surface," he wrote. Graham forwarded a copy of the email MarketWatch late Monday.
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Just a few days ago, BP announced that it came to the same conclusion. The oil major deployed its so-called riser insertion tube over the weekend, and on Tuesday said it's now sucking up about 2,000 barrels a day out of the estimated 5,000 barrel-a-day spill. See full story.
Graham said he did receive a message from the Deepwater Horizon response team to send his email to Nicole Scillo at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and that he forwarded his note but never heard back.
Scillo is listed on NOAA's Web site as an information-technology specialist in the agency's technical-services branch. She did not return a phone call or an email from MarketWatch inquiring about Graham's email.
"I never received an acknowledgment of my suggestions, in spite of [BP's] public statements that ideas were welcome from any and all quarters, that each suggestion would be carefully analyzed and evaluated and that the person making the suggestion would be notified as to the outcome of that evaluation," Graham said in an interview.
BP spokesman Matt Taylor said the company received a "few inquiries" from people wondering asking whether their ideas were taken up. "The reality is that there have been literally thousands of suggestions, with naturally many people offering similar solutions, including using another pipe to insert in to the leaking riser," he acknowledged.
The Deepwater Horizon response center "has done its very best to process suggestions and forward on those that are considered potentially effective to another level of scrutiny," he said.
Taylor added that he did not know why the siphon tube was not tried earlier. "I can assure [Graham] we have had the best engineering minds working on this, and they have been doing what they feel are the best options in the circumstances and in the best sequence."
BP initially focused on building a large containment dome for about 10 days after the spill. The dome failed after it got clogged by ice-like crystals that formed once oil and natural gas from the well came into contact with the low temperatures and high pressures at the bottom of the ocean. The company didn't mention the idea of inserting a tube into the leaking pipe until May 12.
During a briefing on Friday, BP executive Doug Suttles said the insertion tube had been developed during the same time that the company was planning to lower a "top-hat" containment dome to the sea floor.
"I may not have been the first to get the idea of a siphon in, but what were they doing? It just doesn't make sense." Gerald Graham
"[BP] could have been working on inserting the tube while they were building the containment dome," according to Graham. "I may not have been the first to get the idea of a siphon in, but what were they doing? It just doesn't make sense."
Two weeks after submitted his idea, he said he read in media report that BP indeed was planning to insert a tube into the riser.
Prior to his siphon-tube suggestion, Graham wrote BP on April 25 to suggest placing a cap over a leaky portion of the riser, part of the well-piping system damaged in the April 20 fire and April 22 sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
Whether BP saw his suggestion about the cap is not known, but it did cap the riser leak just a few days after the accident.
Graham pointed out that his credentials include training with the Canadian Coast Guard and 30 yeas as an environmental consultant. He added that he's worked for the Canadian government department responsible for offshore oil and gas.
The consultant said he's written to Chief Executive Tony Hayward regarding his suggestions, but hasn't heard back either.
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