"Schrader said that the September 17th shutdown of the
Central Azeri (CA) platform" was the largest such emergency evacuation in BP's
history. Given the explosive potential, BP was quite fortunate to have been
able to evacuate everyone safely and to prevent any gas ignition. " Due to the
blowout of a gas-injection well there was "a lot of mud' on the platform."
From other sources, we discovered the cement which failed
had been mixed with nitrogen as a way to speed up drying, a risky process
that was repeated on the Deepwater Horizon.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president Waterkeeper Alliance and
senior attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council, calls the concealment of
this information, "criminal. We have laws that make it illegal to hide
this."
The cables also reveal that BP's oil-company partners knew
about the blow-out but they too concealed the information from Congress,
regulators and the Securities Exchange Commission.
BP's major US partners in the Caspian Sea drilling operation
were Chevron and Exxon. The State Department got involved in the matter because
BP's U.S. partners and the Azerbaijani government were losing over $50 million
per day due to the platform's shutdown. The Embassy cabled Washington:
"BP's ACG partners are similarly upset with BP's performance
in this episode, as they claim BP has sought to limit information flow about
this event even to its ACG partners."
Kennedy is concerned about the
silent collusion of Chevron, Exxon and the Azerbaijani government. "The
only reason the public doesn't know about it is because the Azerbaijani
government conspired with them to disappear the people who saw it happen and
then to act in concert, in collusion, in cahoots with BP, with Exxon, with
Chevron to conceal this event from the American public." -- To read
the full story go to EcoWatch.org -- Check out the
Youtube video
Re-prints permitted with credit to EcoWatch.org and the author.
Greg Palast is the author
of Vultures'
Picnic (Penguin 2011), which centers on his investigation of BP,
bribery and corruption in the oil industry. Palast, whose reports are seen on
BBC-TV and Britain's Channel 4, will be providing investigative reports for EcoWatch.org.
You can read Vultures'
Picnic, "Chapter 1: Goldfinger," or download it, at no charge: click here.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter and podcasts.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
8
7
4
