Interview with Ronald Sweatman

Interview with Ronald Sweatman

How the formation fluids entered the Macondo wellbore

In this interview, Ron Sweatman, a Houston-based scientist-engineer with 44 patents in the areas of cementing and fracking, explains how the premature setting of the casing seal assembly set in motion a sequence of events in the fluid mechanics of the drilling fluids that caused the Macondo well to become underbalanced. He calls for enhanced training, software and API guidance regarding the effect of temperature differentials between the drilling fluids and geothermal gradient can have on well integrity. Fig. 1 is a diagram of the Macondo well.

Click here to read the interview in its entirety.

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Mexico Energy Intelligence

Baker & Associates offers niche-market business and policy intelligence related to Mexico's oil and gas, power and chemical industries. Over 1,000 reports have been issued in the last 20 years. Subject matter expert and publisher George Baker, who directs the firm, has carried out consulting assignments starting in the late 1970s at the height of the Oil Boom in Mexico. He brings bilingual and bicultural skill-sets to understanding and responding to challenges of business and public policy, coupled with a deep familiarity with the history and idiosyncrasies of the Mexican operating environment.