The Oil Drum | What caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster?
The blowout and oil spill on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by a flawed well plan that did not include enough cement between the 7-inch production casing and the 9 7/8-inch protection casing. The presumed blowout preventer (BOP) failure is an important but secondary issue. Although the resulting oil spill has potentially grave environmental implications, recent efforts to limit the flow with an insertion tube have apparently been effective. Continuous efforts to slow or stop the flow include drilling two nearby relief wells that may intersect the MC 252 wellbore within 60-90 days.
Very good analysis of the final hours of operation of the DeepWater Horizon, and the causes for the blowout.
This author believes the BOP failure was a secondary issue; the main problem was poor decisions by BP from the beginning.
This analysis doesn’t exactly match what my husband heard the week after the incident; but in important information, it is very close to what he heard and understood had happened.