Tests show unstable cement in oil well before Gulf of Mexico blast

WASHINGTON - Three advance tests the oil services firm Halliburton carried out on a cement mixture used to try to close BP’s Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico showed that the cement would be unstable, according to evidence collected by the national oil spill commission.

Halliburton told BP about only one of those tests before the April 20 well explosion, yet BP and Halliburton went ahead with the cementing job, according to the commission.

A fourth Halliburton test - the only one indicating that the cement slurry might have contained the high-pressure pool of oil and gas at the bottom of the Macondo well - was not available until the night of April 19 at the earliest and might not have been complete until after the cement was poured, the commission staff said in a letter issued Thursday.ccording to the Washington Post, at the commission’s request, Chevron recently carried out independent lab tests of a cement slurry that Halliburton said was the same as that used in the Macondo well.

A Halliburton spokeswoman said, “We continue to review today’s report.” (ANI)