Hints and tips:
...Halliburton had supplied BP with the cement that was supposed to seal the well. The group has been a vital part of the infrastructure supporting the US shale oil and gas boom....
...The San Antonio, Texas-based company said sales would rise between 1.5 and 2.5 per cent from the first three months of the year, shy of consensus forecasts for a 4.3 per cent gain....
...The new lawsuit is important because the quality of Halliburton’s cement job, intended to seal the well to prevent dangerous escapes of gas, has been questioned by investigators....
...Every 28 days, the company transports dozens of workers and contractors from its base in Edinburgh to Greenland and then on to its two drilling rigs, the Leiv Eiriksson and the Corcovado....
...Shortly before 8pm on April 20, a decision was taken that was to seal the fate of the Deepwater Horizon rig, and 11 men who worked on it....
...Only 60 per cent of the engineers work for BP. About 50 have come from competitors including ExxonMobil and Chevron; 100 more from contractors such as Oceaneering, a sub-sea engineering specialist....
...A concrete casing had been put into the well to seal it, but there appears to have been a blow-out – a surge of oil up the pipe holding the drill and carrying mud away from the hole – and the valve designed...
...A steel casing had been inserted into the hole and cemented in place by Halliburton, another contractor on the rig....
...Then came a string of problems in the US, including a 2005 explosion at the company’s Texas City refinery, which killed 15 people; an oil spill in Alaska caused by leakage from corroded pipes; and an attempt...
...The compact says it is not a seal of approval for companies, but campaign groups argue that companies’ adherence should be more closely monitored....
...When Paolo Scaroni took over as chief executive of Eni last year, his first major overseas trip was to Texas....
...At the time it was owned by KBR Halliburton, the engineering arm of the Texas oil and gas services group....
...“[The engineer] thought that once the well had heated up from the warm fluids running through the tubing that the leak would probably seal itself off,” according to Mr Morson....
International Edition