A huff and boom ended Deepwater Horizon's lucky streak

[imurhuckleberry]

Source: Miami Herald

NEW ORLEANS -- It had been a lucky ship, a charmed vessel among the 130 or so rigs that poke straws into the mud, rock and sand beneath the Gulf of Mexico to suck out its crude.

Its job had been to prowl for oil, and the Deepwater Horizon was a celebrated prowler. Last year, the rig punched into a field estimated at 3 billion barrels, one of the biggest discoveries ever in the high-stakes Gulf oil safari.

But at 9:53 p.m. April 20, the Deepwater Horizon's luck played out. A shrill blast of escaping gas and a geyser of black goo hurled high over the placid Gulf heralded its demise, and in minutes the $560 million giant vanished into a fireball that was visible far over the horizon.

In contrast to its swashbuckling past, the Deepwater Horizon's last day was one of frustration, cascading problems and, ultimately, calamity.

By 1 a.m. on April 20, workers had finished injecting cement into the four-mile-deep well they'd drilled to strengthen the sides and protect the pipe. It needed time to set, and then they'd test it.

During the previous weeks, the well had been troublesome. Pressure from the reservoir of oil and natural gas 18,000 feet beneath the Gulf floor was kicking at the pipe, and the Deepwater Horizon had been venting with loud huffs.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/16/1632030/a-huff-and-boom-ended-deepwater.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0o7HFUYQB


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/16/1632030/a-huff-and-boom-ended-deepwater.html#storylink=omni_popular

[damntexdem]

1. The operation was a success but the patient died.

Or in this case, a whole hospital-worth of patients died or will die.