Deepwater Horizon: The Failed Test Everyone Called a Pass

Signs of Strain · Episode 4 On the evening of April 20, 2010, the crew of the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon ran the one test that would show whether the cement at the bottom of the Macondo well was holding back oil and gas. Three times they took the pressure off, and three times it climbed back. The test was read as a pass. Within two hours the well blew out, and eleven men were killed. People are described by their jobs, not their names; the eleven men who died are named in the closing memorial. Where the reports disagree, both accounts are given. Animations are simplified, not to scale. No injuries are shown. Signs of Strain, Ep. 4. Next episode: Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 (2024). CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 1:01 The Record 1:27 A Rig on a Mile of Water 2:50 A Difficult Well 3:48 The Cement at the Bottom 5:17 The Log That Wasn't Run 6:28 Taking the Pressure Away 7:20 The Bladder Effect 10:08 The Last Hour 11:49 9:49 p.m. 13:25 The Last Line of Defense 14:43 April 22, and Eighty-Seven Days 16:12 What the Investigators Found 18:14 What Changed 19:42 Closing PHOTO & VIDEO CREDITS (U.S. government works, public domain, 17 U.S.C. §105) Fireboat crews battle the blaze on Deepwater Horizon, April 21, 2010 (photo): U.S. Coast Guard (via USGS), USGS image "Battling Blaze on Deepwater Horizon Oilrig". Platform supply vessels battle the blazing remnants of Deepwater Horizon, April 21, 2010 (photo): U.S. Coast Guard (via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), FWS image "Deepwater Horizon Offshore Oil Rig Fire". Controlled oil burn, June 9, 2010 (photo): U.S. Coast Guard (via USGS), USGS image "Deepwater Horizon Controlled Oil Burn". Oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, MODIS (Aqua), May 4, 2010 (satellite image): NASA, NASA Earth Observatory, "Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico". Oil slick continues in the Gulf of Mexico, MODIS (Aqua), May 23, 2010 (satellite image): NASA, NASA Earth Observatory, "Oil Slick Continues in the Gulf of Mexico". Oil in the Gulf three days before the well was capped, MODIS (Aqua), July 12, 2010 (satellite image): NASA, NASA Earth Observatory, "Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico" (July 2010). SOURCES National Commission, Deep Water, Report to the President (Jan 2011): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/G... Joint Investigation Team, Vol. II (BOEMRE, Sept 14, 2011): https://www.bsee.gov/sites/bsee.gov/f... Joint Investigation Team, Vol. I (U.S. Coast Guard, 2011): https://www.bsee.gov/sites/bsee.gov/f... National Commission report, GPO package page: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/G... BSEE, Joint Investigation Team releases final report: https://www.bsee.gov/site-page/deepwa... U.S. Department of Justice, BP agrees to plead guilty to felony manslaughter, environmental crimes and obstruction of Congress (Nov 15, 2012): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/n... U.S. Department of Justice, BP pleads guilty, is sentenced to pay record $4 billion for crimes (Jan 29, 2013): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bp-exp... U.S. Department of Justice, Transocean agrees to plead guilty to environmental crime and enter civil settlement (Jan 3, 2013): https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/... U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. and five Gulf states reach historic settlement with BP (Oct 5, 2015): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-and... NOAA Fisheries, Deepwater Horizon: A Moment in Time, Decades of Restoration: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/habita... NOAA Fisheries, Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2010: Size and Percent Coverage of Fishing Area Closures: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/conten... U.S. Department of the Interior, Statement of Secretaries Salazar and Chu on the permanent plugging of Macondo well (Sept 19, 2010): https://doi.gov/node/13811 BSEE, History: https://www.bsee.gov/who-we-are/history BOEMRE, Safety and Environmental Management Systems final rule, 75 Fed. Reg. 63610 (Oct 15, 2010): https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/75/63611 #SignsOfStrain #DeepwaterHorizon #EngineeringDisaster #Macondo