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8 kick event, Guide did not take steps to ensure that it was fully investigated.
According to Sims, Guide was not appropriately engaged in the efforts to deal
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with the stuck drill pipe after the kick.

The Panel found no evidence that Sims took affirmative or specific steps to
address the problems he identified with Guide’s performance. Instead, Sims
simply made a general plea to Guide, asking him to “make logical decisions,
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based on facts, after weighing all the opinions.”

In addition to the tension between Sims and Guide, there were other
organizational challenges that frustrated personnel with responsibilities for
Macondo operations. For example, just days before the blowout, Guide said,
“[w]ith the separation of engineering and operations I do not know what I can
and can’t do. The operation is not going to succeed if we continue in this
185
manner.” Additionally, Brett Cocales testified about concerns related to his
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transfer to the engineering department. Cocales testified that his upcoming
transfer would move resources from the operations group to the engineering
group.

Recognizing the organizational challenges present with the Macondo
team, on March 21, 2010, Pat O’Bryan, BP’s Vice President of drilling and
completions, emailed BP drilling and completions personnel and asked them to
be prepared to discuss operations issues, including “the challenges that we’ve
had over the last few weeks.” In the email, O’Bryan listed several items he
wanted to discuss, and one of the items was “just in time delivery of well plans.”
Sims’ draft email response stated “Nothing is going to change! All leadership,
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Ops DEs, etc. Lots of stress in the system.”

In the weeks leading up to April 20, BP made further changes to the
Macondo well team. In early March, BP wells manager Ian Little was out of the
office, as was Sims. Little delegated his duties to Guide. Guide’s duties at the
time included the responsibility for ensuring an investigation into the causes of
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the March 8 kick was conducted. Cocales assumed Guide’s responsibilities

182 BP‐HZN‐MBI00125458 (post‐incident interview notes).
183 BP‐HZN‐MBI00222540.
184 BP‐HZN‐MBI0022252.
185 BP‐HZN‐MBI00255906.
186 Cocales testimony at 271‐72.
187 BP‐HZN‐MBI00265306.
188 Testimony of Ian Little, Joint Investigation Hearing, April 7, 2011, at 38.

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