Schlumberger’s secret “smoking oil rig” documents

Wayne Madsen
Online Journal
July 10, 2010

Oil drilling industry inside sources have reported to WMR that “smoking gun” documents, including what are known as “mud logs” are being kept at the Tulsa, Oklahoma headquarters of Schlumberger Oilfield Services.

Mud logging entails the detailed analysis of rocky material and sediment from a borehole for signs and pressure levels and types of gas being encountered during the drilling process. Mud logging is always carried out by a third party and in the case of the Deepwater Horizon, this function was performed by Schlumberger.

Hours before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Schlumberger engineers detected an increase in gas pressures as BP sank a bore to an unprecedented depth of 35,055 feet below sea level. It is clear that their warnings about an impending disaster were ignored by BP supervisors and the evidence of BP’s criminal malfeasance sits in a secured room at Schlumberger’s offices in Tulsa.

In addition to gas types and levels, the Schlumberger mud logs also contain data on the drilling and pump rates, oil flow temperatures, and lithology (rock and sediment types).

A Schlumberger timeline document reveals that the firm’s team of mud loggers were on board the Deepwater Horizon hours before the April 20 explosion and left on a BP helicopter. The Schlumberger team, along with their mud log data, left the Deepwater Horizon at 11:15 am. The Deepwater Horizon exploded at 9:45 pm when high-pressured methane gas shot up through the bore hole and exploded when ignited.

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