The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and U.S. Coast Guard show off the BP blowout preventer, which is lashed to a barge docked at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans Monday, September 13, 2010. nola.comBy David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 4:13 PM

Forensic testing finally began Tuesday on a key piece of evidence from April’s Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, and the FBI is keeping a close eye on the work at the NASA Michoud facility in eastern New Orleans. Norwegian-based contractor Det Norske Veritas is conducting the tests on the sunken rig’s blowout preventer, the massive stack of valves and pistons that failed to close off BP’s Macondo oil well when natural gas and oil spewed out and began fouling the gulf. Numerous delays to the testing forced the main federal investigation of the accident to push back its final report from January to the spring. Meanwhile, the FBI and federal prosecutors are awaiting the test results as they conduct a sweeping probe into possible civil and criminal violations of the Clean Water Act and other laws. The BOP autopsy is crucial to determining some of what went wrong when the rig blew April 20, particularly for the various companies declared officially responsible for the nation’s largest oil spill. It’s hoped the testing will clarify exactly how the gas and oil came up from the miles-long well and why certain shut-off valves and slicing rams didn’t do the job. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which had experts on site for Tuesday’s tests, said that samples were taken of the hydraulic fluid that controls various shut-off rams and Wednesday will begin tests of preservative fluid and the removal of drill pipe. The 600-ton BOP was built by Cameron, but altered and operated by Transocean, the rig’s owner. The BOP could provide clues about the impact of BP’s engineering decisions and the effectiveness of Halliburton’s cement well lining, too. … Questions have been raised about whether DNV has a conflict of interest because the company was hired to evaluate safety procedures on the Deepwater Horizon in 2007 and to assess Transocean’s blowout preventers. The chairman of the Chemical Safety Board, which was asked by a congressional committee to investigate the disaster, said he believed DNV had a conflict. DNV has disputed that. …

Autopsy of Deepwater Horizon’s blowout preventer finally begins