Oil executives questioned about well safety

Congressional committee members probing the Gulf oil spill homed in Wednesday on possible defects in cementing and in a critical safety device as they grilled oil company executives about what Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) called "a calamitous series of equipment and operational failures."

The BP well, drilled 18,000 feet below the sea floor, may have failed two critical pressure tests in the hours before its April 20 blowout, according to testimony from executives and interviews with company officials.

And the blowout preventer, a massive apparatus designed to contain the gas that ignited the rig fire, had a leak in a crucial hydraulic system as well as a defectively configured ram, its manufacturer told investigators.

As oil and dead birds washed onto Louisiana shores, executives from BP America Inc., Transocean Ltd., Halliburton Corp. and Cameron were grilled in Congress for the second day.

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee questioned the cementing of the well, which may have caused its explosion, and BP's modifications to the blowout preventer.

Traditional industry allies were among the harshest critics. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said there was "in all probability shoddy maintenance."

The White House asked Congress yesterday to provide $118 million in aid to the Gulf Coast, eventually to be charged to BP.

BP continued to assess ways to plug the leak, lowering a second containment box onto the sea floor late Tuesday.

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) ridiculed the efforts, saying BP is "largely making it up as they go. . . . When we heard the best minds were on the case, we expected MIT and not the PGA," he said.

- Los Angeles Times