BP Oil Spill - the prequel

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1) 08BAKU883 2008-09-17 CONFIDENTIAL

AZERBAIJAN: GAS LEAK SLASHES OIL PRODUCTION IN OFFSHORE ACG FIELD

2) 08BAKU897 2008-09-19 CONFIDENTIAL

AZERBAIJAN ACG FIELD OIL PRODUCTION STILL WAY DOWN DUE TO GAS LEAK

3) 08BAKU919 2008-09-26 CONFIDENTIAL

AZERBAIJAN INCOME TAKES A HIT AS NO SHORT-TERM FIX LIKELY FOR ACG PRODUCTION PROBLEMS

At least some of 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.

4) 08BAKU947 2008-10-08 CONFIDENTIAL

AZERBAIJAN SEEKS TO DEVELOP ACG DEEP GAS, CAN SUPPLY GEORGIA WITH WINTER GAS

[BP Azerbaijan President Bill] Schrader said that the September 17th shutdown of the Central Azeri (CA) platform, in which the "red button" was pressed after detection of a gas leak on the Central Azeri Platform that led to the evacuation of 211 platform workers off the 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, which BP would analyze to help find the cause of the blowout and gas leak.

09BAKU30 (on another graph) later describes the results of this mud analysis:

[BP] has closed off a "few suspect wells" from which they think a bad cement job caused the leaking gas

5) 08BAKU1195 2008-12-23 CONFIDENTIAL

AZERBAIJAN: CENTRAL AZERI PLATFORM IN ACG OIL MEGA-FIELD RESUMES PRODUCTION; NO PLANNED 2009 OPEC-RELATED PRODUCTION CUTS

Other AIOC partners have previously told EnergyOff that BP might prove reluctant to share its findings on the gas leak's cause even within the AIOC Consortium, for reasons of culpability should the leak have been due to operator error