He and Donald Vidrine, another site leader, were indicted on a charge of failing to heed abnormal well pressure tests.
For months, survivors and Transocean officials have maintained that the well pressure test had been properly conducted.
The new computerized process, which BP calls smart automation, tracks well pressure and other conditions to more precisely time the plunger cycles in ways that avoid gas emissions.
Over the next forty-eight hours, BP will test the well pressure to determine whether keeping the cap in place could further damage the well.
If there is a sudden drop in well pressure as mud is pumped into the pipes, that could mean there is a leak somewhere in the well.
While conditions there are challenging, they are far different from the Gulf of Mexico, with shallow water, significantly less well pressure and extensive safety requirements.
It plans to drill six more wells this year, including two at depths of more than 6,000 feet, where well pressure is customarily high and the possibility of a blowout is greater than in shallower wells.
A separate Transocean presentation, which was provided to rig workers after the incident, cited a "lack of clear" procedures for controlling well pressure, "weakness in planning" the job's risk assessment and an absence of data about conditions in the well.
Flowing well pressure, (STBD).
Second, a well pressure test was misinterpreted.
Well, pressure from the rest of the industry, I'd say.
