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come to their wits end. The quote is “flying by the seat of our pants.” More
over, we have made a special boat or helicopter run everyday. Everybody
wants to do the right thing, but, this huge level of paranoia from
engineering leadership is driving chaos. This operation is not
Thunderhorse. Brian has called me numerous times trying to make sense
of all the insanity. Last nightʹs emergency evolved around the 30 bbls of
cement spacer behind the top plug and how it would affect any bond
logging (I do not agree with putting the spacer above the plug to begin
with). This morning Brian called me and asked my advice about
exploring opportunities both inside and outside of the company. What is
my authority? With the separation of engineering and operation, I do not know
what I can and canʹt do. The operation is not going to succeed if we continue in
this manner. (emphasis added).
442

3. Management of Change ‐ Personnel Changes

BP had MOC policies related specifically to personnel changes. The
requirements for personnel MOCs were identical to the requirements for
operational change, requiring formal risk assessment, a work plan, and
authorization. These policies applied to both temporary and permanent changes
to the organization.

Notwithstanding the detailed personnel MOC requirements, BP appears
to have given little consideration to who would temporarily replace Sepulvado
as well site leader on the rig during temporary abandonment procedures.
Sepulvado first notified Guide on February 26 of his upcoming well control
443
training (scheduled for April 19 through April 24). Sepulvado reminded
Guide again on April 11 that he needed to find a temporary replacement well site
leader while Sepulvado was out for training. .444

Kaluza informed Guide on April 12that he could cover for Sepulvado.

445
Due to his anticipated short tenure on the rig, Kaluza was not given all access
rights to pertinent information within BP’s own system. Guide approved the
446
replacement of Sepulvado with Kaluza on April 12 without reviewing Kaluza’s
performance evaluations. No one provided Kaluza with a detailed briefing on

442 BP‐HZN‐MBI00255906.
443 BP‐HZN‐MBI00171845.
444 BP‐HZN‐MBI00171849.
445 BP‐HZN‐MBI00171853.
446 BP‐HZN‐MBI00171859.

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