A member of the federal panel investigating why the Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 presented evidence Wednesday that BP had wanted to use the rig to drill another well by early March and would have overspent by about $22 million by the time of the accident.
Jason Mathews of the Minerals Management Service said BP applied to use the Deepwater Horizon rig to drill in another oil field on March 8, 43 days before the rig workers, in a rush to finish months of work in the oil field known as Mississippi Canyon 252, removed heavy drilling mud that could have held down explosive natural gas.
Based on earlier testimony that a typical well costs a lease-holder like BP $500,000 a day, Mathews asserted that the company had already overspent by $21 million to $22 million. He asked BP's health and safety team leader, Steve Tink, if that was correct; Tink said he wasn't familiar enough with drilling operations to answer.
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