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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
IN RE: OIL SPILL BY THE OIL RIG * Docket 10-MD-2179DEEPWATER HORIZONIN THE *GULF OF MEXICO ON APRIL 20, 2010 * Section J
*Applies to: * New Orleans, Louisiana
*Docket 10-CV-02771, * March 21, 2013IN RE: THE COMPLAINT AND *PETITION OF TRITON ASSET *LEASING GmbH, et al *
*Docket 10-CV-4536, *UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. *BP EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION, *INC., et al *
** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
DAY 16, AFTERNOON SESSIONTRANSCRIPT OF NONJURY TRIAL
BEFORE THE HONORABLE CARL J. BARBIER
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Appearances:
For the Plaintiffs: Domengeaux Wright Roy& Edwards, LLC
BY: JAMES P. ROY, ESQ.556 Jefferson Street, Suite 500Post Office Box 3668Lafayette, Louisiana 70502
For the Plaintiffs: Herman Herman & Katz, LLCBY: STEPHEN J. HERMAN, ESQ.820 O'Keefe AvenueNew Orleans, Louisiana 70113
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Appearances:
For the Plaintiffs: Cunningham Bounds, LLCBY: ROBERT T. CUNNINGHAM, ESQ.1601 Dauphin StreetMobile, Alabama 36604
For the Plaintiffs: Lewis Kullman Sterbcow & AbramsonBY: PAUL M. STERBCOW, ESQ.601 Poydras Street, Suite 2615New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
For the Plaintiffs: Breit Drescher Imprevento
& Walker, PCBY: JEFFREY A. BREIT, ESQ.600 22nd Street, Suite 402Virginia Beach, Virginia 23451
For the Plaintiffs: Leger & ShawBY: WALTER J. LEGER JR., ESQ.600 Carondelet Street, 9th FloorNew Orleans, Louisiana 70130
For the Plaintiffs: Williams Law Group, LLC
BY: CONRAD "DUKE" WILLIAMS, ESQ.435 Corporate Drive, Suite 101Houma, Louisiana 70360
For the Plaintiffs: Thornhill Law FirmBY: TOM THORNHILL, ESQ.1308 Ninth StreetSlidell, Louisiana 70458
For the Plaintiffs: deGravelles Palmintier Holthaus& Frug, LLP
BY: JOHN W. DEGRAVELLES, ESQ.618 Main StreetBaton Rouge, Louisiana 70801
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Appearances:
For the Plaintiffs: Williamson & RusnakBY: JIMMY WILLIAMSON, ESQ.4310 Yoakum BoulevardHouston, Texas 77006
For the Plaintiffs: Irpino Law FirmBY: ANTHONY IRPINO, ESQ.2216 Magazine StreetNew Orleans, Louisiana 70130
For the United States U.S. Department of Justice
of America: Torts Branch, Civil DivisionBY: R. MICHAEL UNDERHILL, ESQ.450 Golden Gate Avenue7-5395 Federal Bldg., Box 36028San Francisco, California 94102
For the United States U.S. Department of Justiceof America: Environment & Natural Resources
Environmental Enforcement SectionBY: STEVEN O'ROURKE, ESQ.
SCOTT CERNICH, ESQ.DEANNA CHANG, ESQ.
RACHEL HANKEY, ESQ.A. NATHANIEL CHAKERES, ESQ.Post Office Box 7611Washington, D.C. 20044
For the United States U.S. Department of Justiceof America: Torts Branch, Civil Division
BY: JESSICA McCLELLAN, ESQ.MICHELLE DELEMARRE, ESQ.JESSICA SULLIVAN, ESQ.SHARON SHUTLER, ESQ.MALINDA LAWRENCE, ESQ.
Post Office Box 14271Washington, D.C. 20004
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Appearances:
For the United States U.S. Department of Justiceof America: Fraud Section
Commercial Litigation BranchBY: DANIEL SPIRO, ESQ.
KELLEY HAUSER, ESQ.ELIZABETH YOUNG, ESQ.
Ben Franklin StationWashington, D.C. 20044
For the State of Attorney General of AlabamaAlabama: BY: LUTHER STRANGE, ESQ.
COREY L. MAZE, ESQ.
WINFIELD J. SINCLAIR, ESQ.500 Dexter AvenueMontgomery, Alabama 36130
For the State of Attorney General of LouisianaLouisiana: BY: JAMES D. CALDWELL, ESQ.
1885 North Third StreetPost Office Box 94005Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804
For the State of Kanner & Whiteley, LLC
Louisiana: BY: ALLAN KANNER, ESQ.DOUGLAS R. KRAUS, ESQ.701 Camp StreetNew Orleans, Louisiana 70130
For BP Exploration & Liskow & Lewis, APLCProduction Inc., BY: DON K. HAYCRAFT, ESQ.BP America Production 701 Poydras Street, Suite 5000Company, BP PLC: New Orleans, Louisiana 70139
For BP Exploration & Kirkland & Ellis, LLP
Production Inc., BY: J. ANDREW LANGAN, ESQ.BP America Production HARIKLIA "CARRIE" KARIS, ESQ.Company, BP PLC: MATTHEW T. REGAN, ESQ.
300 N. LasalleChicago, Illinois 60654
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Appearances:
For BP Exploration & Covington & Burling, LLPProduction Inc., BY: ROBERT C. "MIKE" BROCK, ESQ.BP America Production 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWCompany, BP PLC: Washington, D.C. 20004
For Transocean Holdings Frilot, LLCLLC, Transocean Offshore BY: KERRY J. MILLER, ESQ.Deepwater Drilling Inc., 1100 Poydras Street, Suite 3700Transocean Deepwater Inc.: New Orleans, Louisiana 70163
For Transocean Holdings Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, LLP
LLC, Transocean Offshore BY: STEVEN L. ROBERTS, ESQ.Deepwater Drilling Inc., RACHEL G. CLINGMAN, ESQ.Transocean Deepwater Inc.: 1001 Fannin Street, Suite 3700
Houston, Texas 77002
For Transocean Holdings Munger Tolles & Olson, LLPLLC, Transocean Offshore BY: MICHAEL R. DOYEN, ESQ.Deepwater Drilling Inc., BRAD D. BRIAN, ESQ.Transocean Deepwater Inc.: LUIS LI, ESQ.
355 S. Grand Avenue, 35th FloorLos Angeles, California 90071
For Transocean Holdings Mahtook & LafleurLLC, Transocean Offshore BY: RICHARD J. HYMEL, ESQ.Deepwater Drilling Inc., 600 Jefferson Street, Suite 1000Transocean Deepwater Inc.: Post Office Box 3089
Lafayette, Louisiana 70501
For Transocean Holdings Hughes Arrell Kinchen, LLPLLC, Transocean Offshore BY: JOHN KINCHEN, ESQ.Deepwater Drilling Inc., 2211 Norfolk, Suite 1110Transocean Deepwater Inc.: Houston, Texas 77098
For Cameron International Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, LLCCorporation: BY: PHILLIP A. WITTMANN, ESQ.
546 Carondelet StreetNew Orleans, Louisiana 70130
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Appearances:
For Cameron International Beck Redden & Secrest, LLPCorporation: BY: DAVID J. BECK, ESQ.
DAVID W. JONES, ESQ.GEOFFREY GANNAWAY, ESQ.ALEX B. ROBERTS, ESQ.
1221 McKinney Street, Suite 4500Houston, Texas 77010
For Halliburton Energy Godwin Lewis, PCServices, Inc.: BY: DONALD E. GODWIN, ESQ.
BRUCE W. BOWMAN JR., ESQ.FLOYD R. HARTLEY JR., ESQ.
GAVIN HILL, ESQ.1201 Elm Street, Suite 1700Dallas, Texas 75270
For Halliburton Energy: Godwin Lewis, PCServices, Inc.: BY: JERRY C. VON STERNBERG, ESQ.
1331 Lamar, Suite 1665Houston, Texas 77010
For M-I, LLC: Morgan Lewis & BockiusBY: HUGH E. TANNER, ESQ.
DENISE SCOFIELD, ESQ.JOHN C. FUNDERBURK, ESQ.1000 Louisiana Street, Suite 4000Houston, Texas 77002
Official Court Reporter: Jodi Simcox, RMR, FCRR500 Poydras Street, Room HB-406New Orleans, Louisiana 70130(504) 589-7780Jodi_Simcox@laed.uscourts.gov
Proceedings recorded by mechanical stenography usingcomputer-aided transcription software.
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I N D E X
Page
Eric Gregory ChildsCross-Examination By Ms. Karis 5405Cross-Examination By Mr. Jones: 5509Redirect Examination By Mr. Baay: 5521
Murry Robert Sepulvado
Videotaped deposition: 5527Buddy Joseph Trahan
Videotaped deposition: 5528
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AFTERNOON SESSION
(March 21, 2013)
* * * * *
THE COURT: Please be seated, everyone.
Any preliminary matters?
MR. GODWIN: Don Godwin for Halliburton, Judge.
We've got a witness, Judge, that's going to come
up, our second witness, that's -- based on the way the trial is
going, we would expect that to be the early part of the nextweek, Tuesday, or whatever it's going to be.
His name is Dr. Kris Ravi. He's an
internationally recognized cement expert. He will testify
about cement, the fact that he believes it's set up. He will
also talk about a flow path theory. All of that will come
forward through his testimony.
Judge, Dr. Ravi is a rebuttal expert. He's
probably the only true rebuttal expert in the entire case.
Everybody's filed rebuttal reports, but he was made a rebuttal
expert witness after I took --
THE COURT: I'm not sure what that means, "rebuttal
expert."
MR. GODWIN: Well, yeah. We were allowed by Judge
Shushan, and after Mr. Ron Crook, who testified for BP to come
in and testify, then we asked that we be allowed to have Kris
Ravi deposed. And he in fact was deposed, Judge, in September
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of 2011 for one day as a fact witness. He was deposed, Judge,
in February of 2012 for two days as an expert. So over a year
ago, he was deposed.
He'll be rebutting what Mr. Crook will be
saying. Mr. Crook is on the will-call list for BP.
Now, why I'm bringing this up, Judge, is not so
much for a resolution at this point, but just as a placeholder
for Your Honor.
I've talked to a couple of lawyers, and theytell me that there will be opposition to having Dr. Ravi
testify before Mr. Crook testifies.
I said, "Well, Judge Barbier has set it up so
I've got to call my witnesses, and I'm going to need to put
this expert on."
And they were saying, "Well, but we want to hear
from Crook first because Ravi is actually a rebuttal."
And I said, "Well, I'm fine doing it either
way."
In other words, as a suggestion, as we did with
Tim Quirk, we can hold our case open, they could do Mr. Crook
and then I could put Mr. Ravi on. Or, Your Honor, as this is a
bench trial, as a suggestion, you could say, "Well, I'll go
ahead and hear what Dr. Ravi has to say, and then I'll hear
Crook at a later time," which --
THE COURT: And as far as I'm concerned, we'll take
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him whenever you want to put him on in your case.
MR. GODWIN: Okay, sir.
THE COURT: Unless you all work out something else by
agreement. But otherwise, let's just put him on in your case.
MR. GODWIN: That's what I'll do, Judge. I just
wanted to raise that, because the gentlemen brought it up to me
and said, "Don, why don't you raise it with the Court?"
And I said I would, and if anybody wanted to be
briefly heard, I'm sure you'd allow them to do so.THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
MR. GODWIN: Thank you, Judge.
MR. STERBCOW: Very briefly, Your Honor. Paul
Sterbcow for the PSC.
Our concern -- only concern, and I want to state
it for the record -- is that in the event that Dr. Crook winds
up not testifying, then we've had rebuttal to testimony that's
not in the record. That's why this whole thing came up,
because we don't -- BP's going to go last, and we don't know
if --
THE COURT: Well, I don't even know what this means,
he's only a rebuttal expert. If he's listed as an expert and
he was deposed and all, he's an expert and they can put him on,
as far as I'm concerned.
MR. GODWIN: He is an expert, Your Honor.
THE COURT: You've actually got a deposition of the
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other fellow?
MR. GODWIN: Yes, sir, Judge.
MR. STERBCOW: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: I imagine if he doesn't show up, you
maybe could even offer his deposition.
MR. UNDERHILL: Mike Underhill on behalf of the
United States.
The only reason we raised it, along with Paul
Sterbcow with the PSC, is that Dr. Ravi's report explicitlysays it's only in rebuttal to Mr. Crook. And part of the -- I
understand.
But part of the theory, Your Honor, is that
we're all acutely aware of the Court's -- I'd call it more than
a suggestion -- to keep the case moving along.
If, in fact, Mr. Crook doesn't testify on behalf
of BP, then Mr. Ravi's testified in response to testimony that
won't exist.
And I thought we could possibly cut out one,
possibly two witnesses. That was the thought behind it.
THE COURT: Let's find out who's going to -- what's
his name? Crook? Mr. Crook? Dr. Crook?
MR. GODWIN: Judge, if I might.
THE COURT: Let me just ask BP.
Can you tell us whether he's going to be called?
MR. REGAN: We're considering whether or not we need
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to call Mr. Crook. It may be somewhat, in some sense, tied
into the motion that we're also filing and we'll be putting on
file today.
But we can confer and maybe give some guidance
to the parties on that and then present you with a more
concrete view of what's going to be going forward -- no pun
intended.
I will just say the other aspect of this,
Your Honor, is that with respect to experts in this case, ithas been established that, if a party does not call an expert,
no other party can call them.
A fact witness, if a party doesn't call a fact
witness, they --
THE COURT: No other party can call your expert. I
see.
MR. REGAN: Correct. That's why we have this issue
right now. Yes, sir.
But we will confer with Mr. Godwin and also
Mr. Sterbcow and everyone and see if we can give you some
clarity on that.
THE COURT: Okay. Good.
MR. UNDERHILL: Just a practical suggestion,
Your Honor, is that I think -- Mr. Godwin, I think, had
Mr. Ravi as his second-at-bat witness. Perhaps if Don could
agree to maybe put him down in the batting order a little bit
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ERIC GREGORY CHILDS - CROSS
to see if the Court is inclined to give the parties guidance,
as Mr. Regan mentioned.
Maybe that -- and he can still call the witness
if it indicates that it's proper to do so. But perhaps we can
just defer that decision to see if, in fact, it's necessary.
THE COURT: I would suggest that the three parties or
four parties, whoever is involved in this, confer sometime
today and see if you all can work this out.
MR. UNDERHILL: Thank you, Your Honor.MR. GODWIN: If not, we'll bring it up again,
Your Honor, on Monday morning or whatever's convenient for you.
THE COURT: Sure.
MR. GODWIN: Thank you, Judge.
MR. REGAN: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Ms. Karis?
MS. KARIS: Thank you, Your Honor.
(WHEREUPON, ERIC GREGORY CHILDS, having been
previously duly sworn, testified as follows.)
MS. KARIS: May I proceed?
THE COURT: Yes.
MS. KARIS: Thank you, Your Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Childs.
A. Good afternoon.
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ERIC GREGORY CHILDS - CROSS
Q. And just for the record, Hariklia Karis continuing the
cross-examination for BP.
I want to turn now to some of your opinions with
respect to batteries and solenoids, which are components of the
control system; correct?
A. Yes, they are.
Q. Is it fair to say that the BOP control system, basically,
is the electrical communications system that takes an
electrical signal and tells the BOP to perform certainfunctions?
A. Of course, it's more than that. But there is an
electrical portion turned into a hydraulic portion that
signals -- moves a component.
Q. Fair enough.
That was sort of a crude explanation, but it's an
electrical system, in essence; correct?
A. The portion you are speaking of, of course, with the
batteries and the solenoid is the electrical portion.
Q. And you understood in this case that that's what was at
issue; that is, the solenoids and the batteries; correct?
A. Correct.
Q. All right. And I think you already agreed this morning
you don't have a degree in electrical engineering and you have
no formal training or background in electrical engineering;
correct?
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A. I do not have a degree; that's correct.
Q. And you also don't have any formal training; correct?
A. I've not taken electrical courses except at -- during my
engineering degree, I did take electrical courses as required
by the degree that I have.
Q. It's a correct statement, as you've said before, that you
have no formal training relating to electrical engineering;
correct?
A. I want to make sure. I did take electrical courses in1970 or something, but nothing beyond that.
Q. All right. So other than maybe a couple of courses in
college, nothing beyond that; no formal training beyond that?
A. All the rest of the training is on the job, in the field
with the equipment.
Q. All right. And similarly, you have no training in
electronics or software that controls those systems; correct?
A. No. I use others for software.
Q. Okay. You do not consider yourself to be an expert in
batteries; correct?
A. On these batteries used in this system, yes, I do.
Q. Okay. Let's see your deposition, page 54, lines 18 to 20.
This is from your deposition December 1st, 2011.
Were you asked the following question:
"QUESTION: You would not consider yourself to be an
expert relating to batteries; correct?
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ERIC GREGORY CHILDS - CROSS
"ANSWER: No, sir."
Is that correct?
A. That's what I said at the time. May I explain? We did go
through my other explanation on this later.
Q. Well, let's take it one thing at a time. Start with that.
You don't consider yourself to be an expert relating
to batteries; correct?
A. The answer here said, "No, sir."
Q. All right. And then let's look at the next question:"QUESTION: Would you consider yourself to be an
expert relating to the functionality of solenoid valves?"
And your answer again was:
"ANSWER: Not an expert, but I've learned a great
deal about solenoids" --
MS. KARIS: And let's go to the next page.
And if you can call up through line 9.
"ANSWER: -- solenoids and batteries, that may be --
And the question was:
"QUESTION: And you've learned related to batteries
and solenoids that were relating to your work on this
matter; correct?
And you say:
"ANSWER: Yes, sir. I knew about batteries and
valves --
MS. KARIS: I'm sorry. Start again.
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ERIC GREGORY CHILDS - CROSS
"ANSWER: Yes, sir. I, of course, I knew solenoid
valves and batteries before, but the depth has gone a lot
more over the last year and a half."
Correct?
A. That's what it says, yes, ma'am.
Q. And the last year and a half, where your depth has gone a
lot more, that was in connection with the work that you did on
this case; correct?
A. That's what I'm speaking of at that time.Q. Correct.
And so to the extent that you required an in-depth
understanding of batteries and solenoids, you did it in
connection with the work that you did on this matter?
A. I've worked with them a lot more than that. But at the
time, I was thinking -- of course, when I said first, am I an
expert on all solenoids? No.
Am I an expert on these solenoids? Yes. I've worked
with them for 12 years or more, the same with the batteries.
Q. But you yourself admit that, to the extent you've acquired
an in-depth understanding of solenoids, including the ones on
this matter, which is what you were being asked about, you said
you've gone a lot more over the last year and a half, working
on this case?
A. Yes, I said that, and I'm still learning more.
Q. Okay. Now, when you worked at Cameron, the design of
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ERIC GREGORY CHILDS - CROSS
control systems, including solenoids and batteries, that was
handled by a separate department than the one you worked in?
A. That is correct.
Q. You did not work, ever, in Cameron's control systems
department; is that correct?
A. No, I did not.
Q. And, in fact, the reason you brought in someone else from
WEST Engineering, namely Mr. Tolleson, is because you thought
he had better expertise than you did?A. He had additional expertise in electronics, software, and
code.
Q. And to the extent it required -- working in this case
required setting up tests or designing test procedures, for
that work you relied on Mr. Tolleson?
A. One of the best possible, so I used Mr. Tolleson.
Q. Because if you did that work, you would consider that to
be -- as you've previously described -- over your head?
A. Mr. Tolleson can do work beyond what I know. That's why I
utilized him on the testing. We talked about the procedures,
and he performed the testing. He can set the testing up.
Q. Mr. Childs, you've previously told us that, when it comes
to setting up tests and test procedures, that's over your head;
correct?
A. The final procedures, the details, would be up to the --
Mr. Tolleson, yes.
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ERIC GREGORY CHILDS - CROSS
Q. Let's look at deposition page 54, lines 6 through 9.
"QUESTION: Did Mr. Tolleson discuss with you how the
tests would be set up and prepared?
"ANSWER: In more general terms, because if he got
any deeper, he'd be over my head."
Correct?
A. That's when he started -- yes. When he started discussing
the actual name of the equipment, I wouldn't have understood
it. When he understood -- when he said he's routing thecurrent this way through this process or whatever, that, I
understood.
But when he talked about the names of equipment and
diodes and transistors, he would be beyond what I am used to
working with.
Q. To be clear, the work that he was describing that you said
beyond general terms would be over your head was work in
connection with your opinions in this case; correct?
A. It was work to learn how the SEM operated.
Q. And the SEM and how it operated was what you were
considering as part of your work for your opinions in this
case; correct?
A. That's part of it, yes. And he was doing that testing to
get the answers of how it operated.
Q. Okay. Now, you are familiar with Mr. Zatarain?
A. Yes.
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Q. And Mr. Zatarain is BP's control systems expert who you
were asked to critique some of his opinions in your direct
examination with Mr. Baay; correct?
A. I think I missed one of your words. If you would repeat,
please.
Q. I'm sorry. To critique, or to offer your opinions
regarding his work in this case; correct?
A. I'm missing the word. You asked me if I heard --
Q. Let me start over again.You're familiar with Mr. Zatarain, who is BP's
control systems expert?
A. Yes, I am.
Q. And Mr. Zatarain is the individual whose work you
critiqued in connection with rendering your opinions in this
case?
A. Yes, I read his reports.
Q. And you're aware that Mr. Zatarain, unlike you, is, in
fact, a licensed electrical engineer?
A. I understand he is.
Q. And he has more than 30 years working on control systems
in the oil and gas industry; correct?
A. I'll take your word, yes.
Q. You saw his deposition and you saw his curriculum vitae,
as well as his expert report. You reviewed that; correct?
A. Yes.
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
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Q. And you reviewed that in connection with rendering
criticisms of his opinions in this case?
A. Yes.
Q. And so you would agree that Mr. Zatarain has extensive
experience on control systems and a lot more experience than
you have in that area; correct?
A. He has -- you're right. He has considerable experience in
control systems. Not necessarily --
Q. Not only considerable -- I'm sorry. Go ahead.A. Not necessarily drilling control systems, but control
systems.
Q. You would agree he has extensive and a lot more experience
than you have in this space?
A. In drilling control systems, I'm not so sure. But I know
control systems in general, yes.
Q. Okay. Now, you agree -- or strike that.
You're aware that Mr. Zatarain, along with all of the
other experts in this case that are testifying regarding the
issue of BOP, disagree with your conclusions about the
functioning of the Deepwater Horizon's BOP control systems,
specifically batteries and solenoids?
A. I understand that. I have my testing and I utilized that
information.
Q. And we'll get to that. Mr. Tolleson's testing, you mean?
A. Well, it's mine, too. I directed it, he did it. I have
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the answers.
Q. Correct. We'll talk about that, I promise. But just to
be clear, that's the testing that Mr. Tolleson did?
A. He performed the testing.
Q. Now, before we get to the testing, let's talk about how
this AMF/deadman emergency intervention system works. And I
know you talked about it briefly, so I don't want to repeat old
ground.
But just to set the stage here, the AMF/deadmanoperates after you've had a loss of communication, electronics,
and hydraulics; correct?
A. That is correct.
Q. All right. And when the AMF/deadman is operating, it's
basically monitoring to evaluate whether those emergency
conditions exist so that it can then activate and serve its
function?
A. That sounds correct.
Q. And we call that the AMF/deadman system being armed;
correct?
A. When it's armed, it is talking with each side.
Q. And when it's armed, it's basically communicating to see
whether or not it's needed, if you will, if it's being called
upon?
A. Basically, yes.
Q. And so at all times when the BOP is in use, the AMF system
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is armed and actually ready to serve its function?
A. That's correct.
Q. Or should be, at least?
A. That's the intent, yes.
Q. Okay.
MS. KARIS: Now, if we can pull up D-4605.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. You spoke yesterday about redundancy and redundant
systems. And just to be clear here, we have a BOP and it has ablue pod, and then it also has a yellow pod; correct?
A. Correct.
Q. And those are redundant systems. You don't need both of
them to work for the AMF to work, but you do need at least one
to operate?
A. That is correct.
Q. All right. And within each pod -- one being the yellow
pod, one being a blue pod -- we have two 9-volt batteries;
correct?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. And they're each connected to a SEM --
A. Yes.
Q. -- a subsea electronics module?
A. Yes.
Q. And then those are both connected to a 27-volt battery;
correct?
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
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A. There's a shared 27-volt battery, yes.
Q. All right. So when we talk about redundancy, there is
redundancy even within each pod; that is, each 9-volt battery
is connected to a SEM, to a SEM-A for one, SEM-B for the other;
correct?
A. Correct.
Q. Those are redundant within each other; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. But then they're connected to one 27-volt battery;correct?
A. Correct.
Q. And so you do need that 27-volt battery to operate in
order for either SEM-A or SEM-B to activate?
A. Yes. As I said, it's a shared battery.
Q. All right. And then similarly, the yellow pod, same
configuration and, again, you need your 27-volt battery to
function in order for this redundant pod to work?
A. Correct.
Q. All right. And so if there's only one 27-volt battery and
that battery is discharged, then that pod cannot function;
correct?
A. If that battery is bad, it can't function.
Q. All right. Now, the pods were actually recovered, the
ones that were on the Deepwater Horizon; correct?
A. Yes. We have them.
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Q. All right. And after they were recovered, they were at
the port in Michoud; right?
A. Yes.
Q. And after they were recovered, the DNV performed some
forensic evaluation on these?
A. Yes.
MS. KARIS: If we could pull up 1164.60.4, please.
Let's actually go to the cover, first, 1164,
just the cover.BY MS. KARIS:
Q. And this is the final report from the DNV, including the
results from its forensic evaluation of those batteries -- of
those pods, I should say; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. You're familiar with that report. You've looked at it,
you've considered it, and you've relied on it?
A. Yes.
MS. KARIS: Now, if we can go to 1164.60.4.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Now, here, we see in Table 5, blue and yellow pod battery
voltage measurements; correct?
A. That's what it says, yes.
Q. And these are the results in the DNV report of the
voltage -- of the 27-volt battery when it was recovered and
evaluated; is that correct?
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A. Yes.
Q. All right. And we're talking about -- when we in this
case talk about the discharged battery, we were talking about
the blue pod having the discharged battery; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And the yellow pod, that's the one that had the miswired
solenoid; correct?
A. Solenoid 103Y, yes.
Q. So if the solenoid is miswired, even if your battery isworking, you can't activate that pod?
A. That's not true.
Q. All right. Well, we'll get to that in a second.
Let's focus on the battery, the blue pod battery.
After retrieval, the DNV assessed what the voltage was in
Test 1 of that blue pod; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And they concluded -- what did they conclude was the final
voltage when they recovered the battery and tested it?
A. I assume you're asking about the 27-volt?
Q. Yes, the 27-volt, the one that we're talking about.
A. Test 1 was 1.1 volts.
Q. 1.1; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And then the second test, that was 1.0?
A. 1.0.
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Q. And you agree with me that a 1.1 or a 1.0 voltage is not
sufficient to operate the 27-volt battery?
A. Yes. In the nomenclature I used before, that would be a
bad battery.
Q. So we're all in agreement that, at least at the time that
the DNV forensically examined the 27-volt battery, it was a bad
battery?
A. Unexpectedly low, very low.
Q. And to use your word, a "bad battery"?A. I was actually using that from Zatarain's report, calling
it a bad battery.
Q. Okay. Now, in your opinion, though, at the time on
April 20th, the results were something other than 1.1 and 1.0
for the voltage of that battery; is that correct?
A. That's correct. The voltage measured here does not tell
you what the voltage was on April 20th.
Q. We're going to talk about that. But before we talk about
that, one of the things that you looked at is what was
Cameron's recommendation for how these batteries should be
handled or changed; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And Cameron was the manufacturer of the control system
here?
A. Yes, they were.
Q. And Cameron had issued recommendations for how the
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batteries in its control system should be replaced in
accordance with their practices -- or recommended practices, at
least.
A. They provided that engineering bulletin on their
recommendations.
Q. Now, you in your report --
MS. KARIS: If we could pull up 7688.9.2, please.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. This is from your report. You recognize this?A. Yes.
Q. You begin by saying: "The batteries for all three
Deepwater Horizon SEM pods were replaced in accordance with the
recommendations outlined in EB 819 D above"; correct?
A. 891.
THE COURT: You read 819, it's 891.
MS. KARIS: I'm sorry. I'm dyslexic.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. EB 891 D; correct?
A. Correct.
Q. And to be clear, EB 891 D, that's Cameron's bulletin of
its recommendations for how these batteries should be handled?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. And you concluded in your report that they had
been replaced in accordance with the recommendations?
A. Yes.
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Q. And I thought I heard you say earlier today when you were
examined by Mr. DeGravelles --
MS. KARIS: And I apologize if I'm not pronouncing
your name right.
MR. DeGRAVELLES: Good enough.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. -- that, in fact, the batteries on the pod, the blue pod,
were not replaced in accordance with the recommendations of
EB 891, but you disagree with what Cameron says should havebeen done?
A. Actually, we did start discussing this yesterday, that the
April '09 that I have on this document, I was mistaken; it was
actually March '09.
Q. Okay. We're going to get to that.
So you would -- you no longer hold the opinion that
all three of the Deepwater Horizon SEM pods were replaced in
accordance with the recommendations outlined by Cameron; is
that correct?
A. On the calendar-year basis -- because of the mistake I
made from April to March, the calendar-year basis is after a
year; but on the actual-use basis, it's less than a year of
service.
Q. But at the time of your deposition, you were basing it on
a calendar year because you thought, based on April -- the
calendar-year theory fit your conclusions that they were in
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accordance with recommended practices; correct?
A. Since it was April, I didn't have to look any further.
When I discovered it was not, I needed to go, for my own
benefit, as I told the judge yesterday, find what use did it
really have.
Q. Right. So at the time you thought April was good enough,
it was from when they were in use; but now that you looked back
and recognized that in fact they don't satisfy that in-use
requirement, you revised it to from when they were splashed andactually used; is that correct?
A. There's a little bit of a mischaracterization there. We
discovered an error, we did. I was wrong. It wasn't April; it
was March. When it was March, I needed to go look at more
information.
Q. All right. So let me ask you again: Have you changed
your opinion that these three batteries were replaced in
accordance with the recommendations outlined in Cameron's
bulletin?
A. I still think they're within one year's use, on-time
operation.
Q. Are they replaced in accordance with Cameron's
recommendation, is my question.
A. With my definition, the way I look at on-time operation,
yes.
Q. But your definition is different than Cameron's
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definition; correct?
A. I understand that.
Q. So you agree with me, it's different?
A. I agree that my definition is different.
Q. All right.
MS. KARIS: Let's look at that bulletin, 891 D -- I'm
sorry, TREX-3605.1.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. This is Cameron's bulletin dated September 8th, 2004.It's their engineering bulletin that addresses AMF/deadman
battery replacement; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. If we can go to -- and this is what you disagree with,
"this" being Cameron's AMF/deadman battery replacement?
A. Just the one point in their recommendation list.
MS. KARIS: And if we can go now to 3605.2.1.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. In its bulletin issued in 2004, the engineering bulletin,
Cameron states: "Cameron is making the same recommendations
for battery replacement: It is recommended that the 9-VDC and
the 27-VDC battery packs be replaced after:" --
And the first bullet says: "One year of on-time
operation."
Correct?
A. I believe you read it correctly, yes.
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Q. Okay. Now, at the time of your deposition, you had not
consulted with anyone from Cameron to evaluate what "one-year
on-time operation" meant under their engineering bulletin;
correct?
A. No. I had read it and seen the face of it and knew what
it meant.
Q. My question was whether you had consulted with anyone at
Cameron to see whether your understanding was accurate.
A. At the time of my deposition, I had not.Q. At the time of your deposition, you were aware of what you
told us was only one document that explained what Cameron meant
in its Engineering Bulletin 891 D; correct?
A. There's an e-mail after the incident where this question
was asked, and they defined it differently than I do.
Q. And to be clear, Transocean actually tried to understand
what this bulletin meant after the incident; correct?
A. They were doing a verification from Cameron.
MS. KARIS: All right. Let's look at that
verification. 7669.1.4, please.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. See the bottom e-mail from James Kent? And I believe
earlier there was a reference to James Kent of being from BP,
but Mr. Kent is actually with Transocean. I think it was
probably just misspoken.
A. I think I said he was the rig manager.
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Q. Right.
A. Transocean.
Q. I think the question was James Kent from BP. And just to
be clear, Mr. Kent is actually with Transocean; correct?
A. Yes. I agree he was the rig manager.
Q. He's Paul Johnson's counterpart. He's an asset rig
manager; correct?
A. I didn't remember his exact title.
Q. And a couple weeks after the incident, or 24 days, hewrites to William Stringfellow. And you recognize who
Mr. Stringfellow is; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. He is Transocean's subsea supervisor -- superintendent
actually; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And he would have responsibility for BOP maintenance?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. And Mr. Kent writes to Mr. Stringfellow,
May 14, and he says: "Billy, looking at the recommended
replacement interval, do you understand what 'one year of
on-time maintenance means'? It's not clear to me when these
batteries should be replaced."
Correct?
A. I see that.
Q. And so Mr. Stringfellow then writes to Jason Van Lue. Do
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you see that, the same day?
A. Yes.
Q. And Mr. Van Lue is actually with Cameron; correct?
A. That's correct.
Q. And so the subsea superintendent at Transocean is reaching
out to Cameron to find out -- he said: "Jason, can you answer
the below question for James? He is needing a better
understanding to this comment -- of this comment."
Correct?A. Yes.
Q. And to be clear, what's happening here is Transocean's
subsea superintendent is trying to understand what the one year
of on-time maintenance means?
A. That's the question he asked, yes.
Q. All right. Now, if we can look at -- Mr. Van Lue
responded, didn't he?
A. Yes, he did.
MS. KARIS: If we can now look at Mr. Van Lue's
response, which is at the top of the same document, Exhibit
TREX-7669.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Mr. Van Lue responds, and he says, "Billy, Cameron's
meaning for one year of on-time operation is one year from the
time the batteries are installed in the SEM"; correct?
A. Yes, you read that correctly.
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Q. Okay. And to be clear, Mr. Van Lue is saying how Cameron
interprets its own bulletin is that it's one year from when the
batteries are installed in the SEM?
A. I see that's what he said, yes, ma'am.
Q. And that's not just Mr. Van Lue's view. That's what he
said Cameron's meaning is; correct?
A. That's what he said in this e-mail, yes, ma'am.
Q. And he copies some senior folks at Cameron in this.
Mr. Coronado. Do you recognize him?A. Yes.
Q. Mr. McWhorter and Mr. King and Mr. Whitby?
A. Yes.
Q. You never saw anything from Cameron saying, "This is not
what we mean"?
A. No, I did not.
Q. But in your assessment, you apply the definition or
interpretation different than what Mr. Van Lue told Transocean
was the meaning of its bulletin on May 14th, 2010; correct?
A. Yes. My engineering analysis -- my engineering
understanding of on-time operation is as I stated yesterday.
Q. Now, at the time you were deposed, you told us that you
thought this was one man's interpretation from Cameron.
Do you recall saying that?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you still think this is just one man's interpretation
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from Cameron as to what Cameron's bulletin means when it says
"one year of on-time operations"?
A. Better stated, it would have been an e-mail from one man
that said this.
Q. But you don't believe it's just one person at Cameron that
holds this point of view, do you? And by "this," I mean one
year from the time the batteries are installed.
A. As you said, he copied others. And I'm not seeing
anything else. I don't know if there's anything else out therewhere there's been discussion within Cameron.
Q. We talked about Mr. McWhorter, David McWhorter?
A. Yes.
Q. And he is also with Cameron; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you review his deposition to see what he says it
means?
A. I believe I did, yes.
MS. KARIS: Let's look at 489, David McWhorter's
deposition, 489, line 17, to 490, line 3.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. (Reading):
"QUESTION: Using this same bulletin, if you turn to
page 2 of this exhibit, there's a series of bullet points
that set out when the battery should be replaced; correct?
"ANSWER: That's correct.
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"QUESTION: And under the first bullet point, it
says: 'One year of on-time operation.'
What does 'on-time operation' mean?
"ANSWER: On-time operation is from the time it's
installed."
Correct?
A. That's what he said, yes.
Q. So even though, at the time of your dep, you said it was
one man's interpretation, in fact, it was multiple people'sinterpretation from Cameron that that's what they meant; that
is, one year from the time it's installed?
A. Yes, I see that.
Q. Now, in addition to what Cameron thought -- you were a
part of Transocean's investigation team; is that correct?
A. I was.
Q. All right. And did you undertake an investigation or at
least an inquiry to see what Transocean thought that bulletin
meant?
A. I personally did not.
Q. Did you ask anyone at Transocean whether they agreed with
your engineering assessment, as you told us, of what that
meant?
A. I worked with the team that I was working with. I asked
the team that I was working with, yes.
Q. Do you know who Mr. Hay, is Mark Hay?
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A. I know the name.
Q. Mr. Hay is Transocean's subsea supervisor who had
responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon's BOP; correct?
A. Yes.
MS. KARIS: All right. And if we can look at
Mr. Hay's deposition, 140.358.1, please.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. You said you asked the team. You would agree with me it
would make sense to ask the people who were actually involvedin maintenance activities for the BOP that you were
investigating?
A. I'm sorry. Did you say --
Q. Let me rephrase.
A. Yes, please.
Q. You said you spoke to the team about your interpretation;
correct?
A. The joint team at Transocean.
Q. Right. But in reaching your assessment or speaking to the
team, it would certainly make sense to speak to the members of
Transocean who had actual responsibility for maintenance of the
BOP that you were conducting an investigation for; correct?
A. I did not speak to Mr. Hay. Other people on the team
might have. I do not know.
MS. KARIS: Let's look at his deposition, 148.358.1,
please.
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BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Did you form an understanding as to what Transocean
claimed its policy was for changing out control pod batteries?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Let's look at what Mr. Hay says.
UNIDENTIFED SPEAKER: What page number, please?
MS. KARIS: I'm sorry. Page 140, and it's lines 19
through page 141, line 1, please.
Let me correct that. It's Deposition Bundle 140,page 358, line 19, to page 359, line 1.
Sorry about that, Don.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Mr. Hay was asked in this deposition:
"QUESTION: Your understanding is it -- it is
Transocean's policy to change the control pod batteries
once a year; is that right?"
"ANSWER: That's correct.
"QUESTION: And that's consistent with Cameron's
policy about the replacement of batteries; is that right?
"ANSWER: Yes."
Do you see that?
A. I see that.
Q. Now, you reviewed the history of batteries in Pod 1,
Pod 2, and Pod 3; correct?
A. I did.
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Q. And would you agree with me that it was not Transocean's
policy or practice to change out the control pod batteries once
a year?
A. No, do I agree that it was not the policy?
Q. Well, that's what the policy was. Let me rephrase.
While the policy was to change them out once a year,
you would agree with me that that wasn't the practice?
A. No, I wouldn't agree with that.
Q. All right. Well, let's look at that.Did you find -- when was the Pod 3 27-volt battery
put in use? Go ahead.
A. Pod 3 in the blue pod?
Q. Yes.
A. It was put into use March of '09.
Q. And when was it acquired?
A. The batteries were installed November '07.
Q. So the installation of the batteries, which is what
Cameron says you should measure from, was November of 2007;
correct?
A. And the pod was not used until March of '09.
Q. Okay. We're going to get to that. But Cameron says one
year from when installed. So if we go by one year from when
installed, that would have been November of 2008; correct?
A. That interpretation that we're using of installation date,
as you've shown us, we learned after the fact. So I cannot
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really speak to what everybody on the rigs knew at that point
in time.
Q. All right. Let's at least go with what Cameron told
Transocean in May of 2010. We'll talk about what they knew
before in a minute.
But at least as of that time, if we follow Cameron's
recommendations and what it meant, that would mean the blue pod
batteries should be changed out in November of 2008; correct?
A. By the calendar year, had they had that interpretation andyou went strictly by calendar year, yes. But by use, it was
not due to be replaced yet.
Q. Do you know who Mr. Steven Newman is?
A. Yes.
Q. Mr. Newman has testified before this Court as Transocean's
CEO; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And were you aware that Mr. Newman actually set out to
understand this issue as well: After this incident happened,
what's the policy practice here for replacing batteries?
Were you aware of that?
A. Not directly, no.
Q. Let's look at Exhibit TREX-4306.1.
In forming your engineering opinion as to what
Cameron's bulletin should have meant, did you consult with what
Transocean's senior management thought in connection with
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replacing out batteries?
A. This e-mail does not look familiar. I'm struggling
reading it.
Q. Sure. I'm sorry. My apologies.
MS. KARIS: Let's call out the bottom. Actually,
bottom e-mail first, please.
This is Mr. Newman's question. Sorry. There
you go.
BY MS. KARIS:Q. Did you set out to understand what Transocean's CEO and
senior management thought in connection with replacement of
batteries?
A. Well, I did not see this document.
Q. And Mr. Newman is writing on the 13th to Pharr Smith;
correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And who is Mr. Smith; do you know?
A. I know the name. I don't know his position exactly.
Q. He was involved along with Mr. Ambrose in Transocean's
investigation of this incident, the one that you worked on;
correct?
A. Yes. Mr. Ambrose and I worked together.
Q. Mr. Pharr is the one I was talking about. Do you know
whether Mr. Pharr was also involved in the investigation?
A. If he was there, I wasn't around him much. Bill and I,
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yes, but not Mr. Pharr.
Q. Mr. Newman writes: "Pharr, I understand as a result of
yesterday's hearing that the batteries on the yellow pod were
dead."
Do you see that?
A. Yes.
Q. It's actually the blue pod batteries that were dead;
correct?
A. Well, it says yellow, so --Q. Fair enough.
MS. KARIS: All right. If you go down to the
fourth -- there you go -- if you can call that out, please.
Thank you.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. And Mr. Newman says: "Are these batteries kept charged as
long as the system is connected?"
And the answer is: "No, these are not rechargeable
batteries. They are replaced once a year or after
32 actuations, whichever comes first."
Correct?
A. You read that correctly.
MS. KARIS: And then if we can go to the response at
the top.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. And to be clear here, Mr. Newman is asking the question
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and somebody else is responding to Mr. Newman's question. If
you look at the original, it's in different colored ink.
Mr. Smith responds back and he says: "Steven answers
below from my subsea dynamic duo: Rob Turlak and Gary Leach.
Let us know if you need anything else."
You had not seen this document, though; is that
correct?
A. I had not.
Q. So you were unaware when you reached your opinions thatthe CEO of Transocean had been told by Mr. Pharr, in connection
to the question about battery replacement, that the batteries
are replaced once a year or after 32 actuations; is that
correct?
A. I was not aware of this string of e-mails.
Q. All right. Now, you referenced earlier that this relates
to understanding of the batteries after the incident?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you undertake to look at and evaluate what Transocean
knew about the condition of its batteries prior to this
incident?
A. We looked at the batteries. Of course, they would have
been in place at the time of the incident, yes.
Q. Sure. But did you look, at least, to understand what
documentation Transocean had about understanding the life and
history of its batteries?
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A. Like I just said, yes, we looked at where they were
installed and when they were put into service.
Q. All right.
MS. KARIS: If we can look at D-4334-B.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. And this is a demonstrative we've prepared. To be clear
here, the Deepwater Horizon had three pods, Pod 1, Pod 2, and
Pod 3; is that correct?
A. That is correct.Q. And the blue pod is Pod 3, the yellow pod is Pod 2, and
then there's a spare pod on the surface?
A. That's my recollection.
Q. And what is your understanding of when the blue pod went
into surface -- I mean, went into service and was splashed at
the Macondo well?
A. March '09.
Q. Okay. At the Macondo well, March of '09?
A. Yes. March of '09, the year before the incident.
Q. I don't want to confuse you, Mr. Childs --
A. I'm sorry.
Q. -- but the Deepwater Horizon wasn't at Macondo in March of
'09.
A. I said before.
Q. Do you know when the blue pod went into use and was
splashed at the Macondo well on the Deepwater Horizon?
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A. Oh, you're correct, I did mishear. I wasn't listening
properly.
Q. Fair enough.
A. It was splashed for Macondo March 6th, I think -- 5th,
6th, somewhere in there, of '10.
Q. Are you sure it wasn't in late January -- or early
February, I should say, February 6th?
A. I think it reached -- it reached bottom.
Q. Fair to say you don't remember?A. It reached bottom.
Q. When?
A. Well, I've had a brain issue, obviously.
Q. All right.
A. Forgive me.
Q. You have a chart that says it was in use for 71 days at
Macondo. Does that refresh your recollection?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. We'll get back to how many days it was in use
total. Because as I understand it, the way you reached your
opinion that it was okay or in compliance was by counting the
days it was actually splashed and in use?
A. From the date it was on bottom and armed until the day it
was disarmed and retrieved, yes.
Q. All right. But just to set the groundwork here, Pod 3 --
you see Mr. McWhorter's testimony -- it's very clear that's
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where the blue pod batteries were. No dispute about that;
correct?
A. Excuse me, no.
Q. And Pod 1 is actually the spare pod on surface. Do you
see that?
A. I see that.
Q. All right. Now, were you aware that, in February of 2010,
Transocean had sent the spare pod, the one that was on surface,
to Cameron for refurbishment while the BOP was latched at theMacondo well?
A. I vaguely remember that, yes.
Q. Okay. And so Cameron evaluated the batteries in Pod 1,
the one that was on surface, in February of 2010, a couple
months before this incident?
A. Now, you say Cameron evaluated?
Q. Yes.
A. Yes, I believe that's who they sent the equipment to,
Cameron.
Q. Let's look at TREX-3782.
MS. KARIS: If we go to 3782.2.2.3.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Have you seen this document previously; that is, Cameron's
evaluation of what the condition was of that spare pod's
batteries?
A. Honestly, it's not looking familiar at this moment.
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
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Q. All right. I'll represent to you that the spare pod's
batteries had been originally installed in the SEM in April of
2009. Now, in February of 2010, Cameron writes and says: "The
batteries on the Horizon's SEM are not good."
Do you see that?
A. At the bottom, yes, I see that.
Q. And then that communication is forwarded on from Cameron
to Mr. Fry and Mr. Geoff Boughton, correct, at the top?
A. Yes.Q. And so those are gentlemen with Transocean, Mr. Fry and
Mr. Boughton, in their subsea group; correct?
A. I believe that's correct.
Q. Mr. Fry is Transocean's subsea superintendent; is that
correct?
A. He was.
Q. And so he would have had responsibility for maintenance of
the BOP, including the batteries; correct?
A. He's a shore-based man, so the man on the rig really had
the responsibility.
Q. All right. But he oversees the man on the rig?
A. He would assist and advise.
MS. KARIS: All right. And then if we can pull up
TREX-3785.1.1.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Mr. Fry, a couple days after getting Cameron's e-mail
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informing him that the batteries on the SEM are not good,
forwards the e-mail to Deepwater Horizon subsea SUP. Do you
see that? And that would be superintendent?
A. I believe that's correct.
Q. And the subject is "Battery Replacement."
And he says: "Some reading material for you.
Regards, Michael Fry."
A. Yes.
Q. And what he attaches as part of those reading materials isCameron's bulletin, the one we were looking at previously,
EB 891D; correct?
A. I don't see it yet, but -- oh, there it is. I'm sorry.
It's right there on the attachment, EB 891D.
Q. Correct.
MS. KARIS: And if we can just go to 87 -- I'm sorry,
3785.4.2.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. I'll represent to you that that's what's attached,
Cameron's bulletin. And that's the bulletin that has the
language we were talking about previously.
So a couple months prior to this incident,
Transocean's subsea superintendent, supervisors, and other
members who were responsible for maintenance of the batteries
on the Deepwater Horizon's BOP, again received a copy of
Cameron's bulletin stating that it is recommended that the
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27-volt battery packs be replaced one year of on-time
operation?
A. That's the on-time operation. It's still there.
Q. Not only is it there, but Transocean's subsea folks
received a reminder, if you will, of that a couple of months
before this incident?
A. Of the on-time operation, yes, ma'am.
Q. And they got that bulletin along with a notification that
their spare pod batteries were not good; correct?A. I saw the document you showed me, yes.
Q. All right. Did you see any evidence that Mr. Fry, after
receiving this communication -- or anyone at Transocean
attempted to determine whether the batteries in Pods 2 or 3
were also not good?
A. I didn't see anything more than here. I don't know one
way or the other whether anything else was sent on those
particular things you asked me about.
Q. Well, one of the things you tried to understand here was
what Transocean knew or understood about the blue pod battery;
correct?
A. We wanted to know which SEM was in which pod and when each
SEM was repaired, rebuilt, and put back into service.
Q. And in all of the review that you did of all the documents
and all the materials, did you see anywhere any attempt by
Transocean to understand whether the batteries in Blue Pod 3 or
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Yellow Pod 2 were not good, just as was the case with the spare
pod batteries?
A. Not exactly that answer. What I saw was continual sending
of SEMs to Cameron for refurbishment or pods to Cameron for
refurbishment, which meant getting new batteries, sending them
back to the rigs to go back into service.
Q. Did you see anything like that in connection with Pod 2 or
3 after February of 2010?
A. I couldn't quote which one was 2 or 3 at this moment, butI saw continual movement of these pieces of equipment to
Cameron for repair.
Q. They certainly couldn't have said Pod 2 or 3 because they
were subsea actually, splashed at the time; correct?
A. During --
Q. So there's no way they could have sent those back for
refurbishment?
A. Not the ones in service, you're correct.
Q. Right. So we know they couldn't have sent those SEMs back
because they were sitting 5,000 feet below the surface.
My question is: Did they do anything to try and
understand whether the conditions of those pods' batteries were
any better than the spare pod, which they understood to be not
good?
A. "They," again, are the subsea engineers you're talking
about. I have no recollection one way or the other. I didn't
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see anything one way or the other.
Q. Okay. After Mr. Fry got this communication, are you aware
that he reached out to Mr. Owen -- I'm sorry, to
Mr. McWhorter -- and there's an Owen McWhorter from Transocean,
and then there's a David McWhorter from Cameron, so we're not
confusing the two.
A. I know the difference.
Q. And we're speaking of Mr. Owen McWhorter from Transocean.
Were you aware that Mr. Fry reached out to him to tryand figure out what the life of their batteries was and what
the voltages of any equipment they had was?
A. Not directly. I don't remember that document directly, or
a document like that.
MS. KARIS: Let's look at 3682.1, please. Let's look
at the bottom. Thank you.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. This is from the Deepwater Horizon, Owen McWhorter, if you
look at the bottom there, to Michael Fry. Again, this is
within Transocean. Owen, discussed -- I'm sorry. Let me make
sure we have -- it seems to be -- there's a hole through it. I
can't see the first couple of words there.
MS. KARIS: Do we have it or not?
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. I think it says "as we discussed."
"As we discussed on the phone, here's what I have on
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the blue SEM. Everything else on the page is pressures."
And that's as of February 19th. Do you see that?
A. Yes.
Q. And under "deadman active for the blue SEM," what does it
read?
A. .02-volts.
Q. Now, is it fair to say that, at this time, it was not
possible for Mr. McWhorter to get an actual reading of what the
blue pod SEM voltage was for the 27-volt battery because it wassplashed subsea?
A. I think that's an indication on the surface of the fact
that the deadman was active.
Q. Right. It doesn't tell you anything about the voltage of
that battery; correct?
A. Only that the deadman and blue SEM is active.
Q. Right. But it certainly doesn't tell you anything about
what the voltage is of that battery; correct?
A. I don't think there's any connection except the fact that
it could be turned on, it was active.
Q. All right. Is it fair to say, then, that this document
certainly didn't answer the question of, what's the condition
of -- what's the voltage of the 27-volt battery in the blue
pod?
A. It appears Mr. McWhorter gave him every bit of information
he could from that time. He's on surface -- he's on surface;
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it's not.
Q. But what he wasn't able to do was to tell him what the
condition of that battery was?
A. All he could tell him was that that SEM was active -- or
deadman was active.
Q. Now, when you speak to testing of the -- the various
testing that took place in the BOP. Are you aware of any
testing that was conducted after February 19th of 2010 on -- to
test the AMF/deadman?A. I don't know one way or the other. I know the
full-function tests were done, but I do not have records one
way or the other if the AMF was tested.
Q. The full-function testing does not test the AMF/deadman,
does it?
A. I don't have records one way or the other saying it did or
didn't.
Q. And you don't know, based on your own experience, whether
it was tested?
A. At this point in time in the industry, they weren't
routinely testing AMF.
Q. And as a result of the work you did in connection with the
investigation, did you come to learn when Transocean had last
tested its AMF/deadman to assess the voltage of the batteries
or anything else?
A. I don't have a date for that, no, ma'am.
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
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Q. That's not something you looked into in reaching your
opinions in this case about what testing had been done, even
though you were opining about the batteries?
A. We were looking at the batteries, looking at the
solenoids. I have no record one way or the other on the
testing, the AMF testing.
Q. You say you were looking at the batteries and the
solenoids. You also gave an extensive list in your report of
what testing had been done by Transocean on the BOP; correct?A. Yes.
Q. All right. And so when you looked to see what testing had
been done, did you ever look to see what testing had been done
on the components for which you were rendering opinions?
A. Well, I said that. Yes, we tested the components.
Q. No, what testing Transocean had done by policy.
A. Yes. Transocean did test every component in the pod.
Q. And did you become aware that, at least according to
Mr. Fry in an interview that he gave the investigation team,
Transocean had not tested the AMF/deadman in eight years?
A. I don't remember the eight years.
Q. Okay. We'll get to that.
MS. KARIS: If we can pull up D-6716, please.
Sorry. If we can first start with
TREX-7709.1.4.
UNIDENTIFED SPEAKER: Say it again, Carrie.
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MS. KARIS: I'm sorry, 7709.1.4. Thank you.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. Do you recognize this is from Transocean's investigation
work that lays out the history of these batteries, the team you
were involved in?
A. Yes.
Q. I'm not going to go back over it, because I know you were
asked about it previously.
But just to be clear here, this is the document thatestablished that somewhere between November of 2007 -- I'm
sorry -- June of 2007 to November of 2007 Cameron replaced the
batteries in the No. 3 SEM at this time; correct?
A. That is correct.
Q. And then you went on to say --
THE COURT: Ms. Karis, for my sake, remind me again.
We used colors and we used numbers. And the No. 3 is the --
MS. KARIS: The blue pod.
THE COURT: The blue pod. Okay. The No. 2 is the
yellow?
MS. KARIS: Correct.
THE COURT: Does the No. 1, which was not in use,
have a color?
MS. KARIS: It's called "spare."
THE COURT: It's spare. Okay.
THE WITNESS: Sometimes it's called a white, in case
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we see it written elsewhere.
MS. KARIS: So we've got white, yellow, and blue.
THE WITNESS: And a 1, 2, and a 3.
BY MS. KARIS:
Q. So 3 is the one we're talking about in connection with the
batteries that were tested and found by DNV to not have a
sufficient charge.
A. In the blue pod, yes.
Q. And just to be clear here, Cameron replaced thosebatteries sometime between June of 2007 and November of 2007;
correct?
A. Correct. And the footnotes show a full factory acceptance
test was also completed.
Q. Correct. And in March of 2009, when you say "during rig
move, the No. 3 SEM is installed on the blue pod position on
the BOP and fully tested," that's not to suggest that the AMF
was fully tested. It's the BOP that was fully tested; correct?
A. The pod was prepared for deployment, correct.
Q. And then you say the "BOP is splashed, putting the No. 3
SEM into service," in April of 2009."
And that's what you've now come to understand is not
accurate?
A. I would correct that April 2009 there to March 2009.
Q. All right. Because under your prior understanding, if
that installation that we're seeing had occurred in March of
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2009, then at least as of the time of your deposition, you
would have said that would not comply with Cameron's
recommendations for changing the batteries, based on how you
understood it at that time; correct?
A.
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