BP Gulf Oil Spill: Wellhead Pressure Monitoring Extensive but Too Late

In what continues as the one of the developing ironies of the gulf oil spill, BP spokesman and chief operating officer describes and explicates the slow and deliberate efforts BP is taking now as it attempts to stem the flow of oil from the crumpled riser pipe.

Citing the recent failed top kill effort, Suttles reiterates the amount of pressure monitoring, data gather, pressure gage installations and data sharing and analysis that took place during the recent failed top kill.

Yet investigations and the testimony of oil rig crew members reveal that such was not the case immediately prior to the spill: wellhead and riser pipe pressure levels were not as carefully or diligently monitored or evaluated. Early indications now are that excess natural gas pressure in the well and riser pipe likely lead to the explosion that killed eleven, the oil spill that has in six weeks grown to catastrophic proportions.