Swiss-based Transocean Ltd's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded while it was drilling a well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico under contract for London-based BP Plc. Eleven rig workers are presumed dead.
The Transocean mechanic's account could give the company more ammunition in its verbal battle with BP to assign blame for the disaster, which caused what is likely the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
Around noon, rig workers met in a room adjacent to the rig's galley and "there was a slight argument that took place and a difference of opinions," said Douglas Brown, the rig's chief mechanic, speaking to a federal board of investigators in Kenner, Louisiana.
Brown said "a skirmish" took place between "the company man" from BP -- whose name he said he did not know -- and three Transocean employees.
"The company man was basically saying, 'Well this is how it's going to be,'" and Transocean rig workers "reluctantly agreed," Brown said.
The argument concerned "displacing the riser," Brown said, a reference to a decision made by rig personnel to remove heavy drilling mud from the drill pipe and replace it with water, in an attempt to wrap up drilling operations and plug the well with cement.
Drilling mud is a mixture of synthetic ingredients that is pumped into the well to exert downward pressure and prevent a column of oil and gas from rushing up the pipe.
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