May 28, 2010
DAY 39
CNN’s American Morning – John Roberts spoke with Tony Hayward
Hayward admitted it is an environmental catastrophe and that his initial comments (very very modest environmental impact) were based on the fact that no oil had yet reached shore.
BP was able to force the mud in until the flow of oil/gas out stopped. However too much mud was leaking out so they introduced unknown solids (aka bridging/junk shot) into the blowout preventer to clog the holes. They will continue with the mud in the hope of eventually cementing the well off permanently. The relief well won’t be completed until August.
TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS
Mr. Hayward, thanks for your time. What’s the latest on the top kill operation?
TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP: Good morning, John. It’s proceeding broadly according to plan. The first phase was to pump heavy drilling mud into the well to overcome the pressure. We managed to line out the entire subsea system in doing that, the first time it’s been done a mile beneath the sea. That was resulted in some success. And then yesterday afternoon, we moved to pump loss control material into the blowout preventer to try and create some bridging within the blowout preventer –
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: That’s what they call –
HAYWARD: — they can’t switch –
ROBERTS: That’s what they call the junk shot?
HAYWARD: That is the local terminology is the junk shot. That was concluded in the early hours of this morning. And later today, we will go back to pumping drilling mud in an attempt to overcome the flow of the oil and gas.
ROBERTS: All right. So, we’re still seeing — we’ve got that live picture at the top of the riser pipe above the blowout preventer, Mr. Hayward, this morning. We’re still seeing a lot of material coming out of the top. Is that any kind of an indication that the junk shot may not have actually clogged up the blowout preventer?
HAYWARD: Based on the pressure measurements we have across the blowout preventer, we have some indications of partial bridging, which is good news. The material you’re seeing coming out of the top of the riser this morning is almost all mud. Clearly the mud is nontoxic, it’s water-based. It does no environmental harm at all. And clearly once we’re pumping mud, there is no oil and gas coming into the sea.
ROBERTS: Right.
HAYWARD: So it would go back — as I said, we go back to pumping mud later today. I think it’s probably 48 hours before we’ll have a conclusive view this. I know that’s frustrating for everyone. I am probably more frustrated than many. I want to get this thing done. I know as soon as we possibly can. We are doing everything we can to achieve that.
ROBERTS: So, as we watch this operation, a number of questions are being raised about the safety record of BP, what was going on in drilling this bore hole before it blew up. I know that when you came on as CEO of BP, you pledged to make safety a number one issue. But there are a lot of lingering concerns about that. And yesterday, a worker on the Deepwater Horizon, Stephen Stone, testified at a hearing yesterday. And he charged that BP is still cutting corners to save money and that’s jeopardizing safety. I’d like to play for you if I could a little bit of what he said yesterday and get you to respond.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN STONE, EMPLOYEE SURVIVOR AT DEEPWATER HORIZON EXPLOSION: When these companies put their savings over our safety, they gamble with our lives. They gamble with my life. They gambled with the lives of 11 of my crew members who will never see their families or loved ones again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Mr. Hayward, what do you say to that?
HAYWARD: I don’t believe there’s any evidence that there’s any savings putting people’s lives at risk. We always put safety first. Safe and reliable operations are what comes first. I do think, John, that we need to await for the full findings of the investigation before we draw conclusions. What’s very clear is this was a very complicated, complex accident involving many, many things that came together. Failures of equipment, failures of human process, perhaps failures of human judgment. And it’s too early to draw conclusions. There are a number of investigations ongoing. They will draw the right conclusions.
ROBERTS: All right. So safety again, you say your number one concern. But according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, their statistics show that BP has had hundreds of safety violations in the past three years at its refineries. OSHA is proposing $87 million in fines against BP and that’s a record. And the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab says that BP has a, quote, “systemic safety problem.”
HAYWARD: All I can is since I’ve been in this job for three years, I have focused mostly (ph) on safe and reliable operations. We’ve made significant organizational charges, changes to our processes, changes to people, and changes to our culture. And of course, you can never do enough.
ROBERTS: So you’re saying that despite your best efforts, there may indeed still be systemic safety problems throughout the industry, throughout your company?
HAYWARD: I don’t believe there are systemic safety problems in BP today. And I think when we understand the cause of this accident, we will see that this is not to do with systemic safety issues.
ROBERTS: All right. Eleven days ago, Mr. Hayward, you said that you thought that the environmental impact of this would be very, very modest. Your words. What was the basis for that statement?
HAYWARD: The basis for the statement was that at the time that I made the statement we clearly had not had any oil on the shore and we were doing everything we could to contain the oil offshore and defend the shoreline. A cup of oil on the shore is failure. And in that regard, we have failed to defend the shoreline to the degree and extent that we believe we could.
ROBERTS: And now –
HAYWARD: We are going to continue to do that very vigorously working hand in hand with the Coast Guard. We are poring and more resources into Louisiana. But we have enormous resources deployed in the Gulf Coast region. The reality is that we need almost all of it in Louisiana.
ROBERTS: And now that it’s been found by government scientists that the amount of oil coming out of that blowout preventer is perhaps five times what it was initially thought, it maybe 19,000 barrels a day and not 5,000 barrels a day.
–If I were to ask you what you thought the environmental impact of the spill is going to be, what would you say? What would your assessment be now?
HAYWARD: This is clearly an environmental catastrophe. There’s no two ways about it. And all I would say is that in terms of the estimate, the initial rate was a government estimate. These rates are a government estimate.
ROBERTS: But you’re upping your assessment now to environmental catastrophe?
HAYWARD: It’s clear. I mean, it is clear that we are dealing with a very significant environmental crisis and catastrophe.
ROBERTS: You have promised, Mr. Hayward to clean up every drop of oil that’s out there. But we explored some marshlands with Governor Jindal in Pasalutra (ph) the other day where the oil is just sitting there. Nobody has been in to clean it up. Yesterday, our Rob Marciano was out in the gulf. They went miles and miles out in the oil spill and they didn’t see anyone cleaning up in that area. So you say that you’re going to clean up every drop of oil, but where are the people doing it?
HAYWARD: Well, we have 20,000 people in the area working on oil cleanup. We’ve got 50 planes now flying a continuous basis to identify where oil is coming ashore so we can get rapid response teams to those locations and deal with it as quickly as we can.–
ROBERTS: Right. The president made it clear yesterday that he doesn’t absolutely trust you when it comes to the extent of the damage that the spill is causing. I’d like to play a little of what he said yesterday and get you to respond to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their interest may be to minimize the damage and to the extent that they have better information than anybody else, to not be fully forthcoming. So, my attitude is we have to verify whatever it is they say about the damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So you’ve got your company responsible now for the biggest oil spill in American history and the president saying, I don’t fully trust you to tell the truth when it comes to the potential damage. You appear to have at least for the government a fairly significant credibility gap here?
HAYWARD: We’ve tried to be open and transparent in our communication of this from the very beginning. We’ve had all government agencies working with us in our organization from the very beginning. They had access to everything from the very beginning. If we’ve fallen short, then I apologize, but we have tried to be open and transparent about everything from the very beginning. And I’m very happy to have the government verify the material and data that is being provided.
I spent most of last night with Secretary Chu overseeing the “top kill” operation. I talk every day with Admiral Thad Allen about how the spill response is going on. There is from my perspective complete and open collaboration between BP and the federal agencies.
ROBERTS: It would appear, at least, according to the president, you haven’t yet convinced him.
Mr. Hayward, thanks for your time this morning. I know you’re busy. Just before we go, I know that Anderson Cooper has been anxious to talk to you on his program. And I’ve been asked to extend an invitation to come on with him tonight at 10:00 if you could as we’re heading into the Memorial Day weekend just to give people an update before the holiday begins.
HAYWARD: I’m going to be on a vessel in Louisiana this evening. I’ll see what I can do.
ROBERTS: All right. Very good. Thanks so much for your time again.
HAYWARD: Thank you.
