Schlumberger crew 'left rig hours before blast'

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By Anthony Guegel Anthea Pitt & Noah Brenner

 20 May 2010 02:11 GMT

A team from oilfield services giant Schlumberger left the doomed Transocean semi-submersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon the day the unit was rocked by an explosion and burst into flames.

Schlumberger's Stephen Harris told Upstream: "Schlumberger was contracted by BP to provide wireline services on the Deepwater Horizon during March and April."

He said the wireline team completed work on the Macondo well on 15 April, but remained the rig and on stand-by from 18 April to 20 April.

It is understood they were prepared to carry out further wireline tests for BP if requested. Harris said no such request came from BP.

Harris later told the Times-Picayune that the team had earlier carried out tests on subsea strata being drilled five days earlier,…

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