Why is it that when I hear that something truly, truly horrible has happened, it is no surprise to learn that Halliburton is involved?
Just 20 hours after Halliburton finished cementing work on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, the well blew and created the Gulf oil spill that has become one of the worst environmental disasters ever.
According to Robert MacKenzie, a former cementing engineer and current managing director of energy and natural resources at FBR Capital Markets, "The initial likely cause of gas coming to the surface had something to do with the cement." A study of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico by the U.S. Minerals Management Service found that cementing was the most important factor in 18 of them.
And Halliburton has already been accused of a shoddy cement work leading to a major blowout in the Timor Sea last August.
Halliburton delenda est.