probert?members of the committee, thank you for inviting halliburton to testify. we will continue to work with you and your staff to collect the factual data that will enable an understanding of what took place and that we can -- and what we can collectively do to ensure domestic oil and gas production is undertaken in the safest and most environmentally possible manner possible. if the catastrophic blow out and spread of oil in the gulf of mexico or tragic events for everyone. on behalf of the entire halliburton family, we extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families, the friends, the colleagues of the 11 people who lost their lives and those workers injured in the tragedy. as we hope you can appreciate, neither halliburton or any other party can make a judgment or offer any credible theories about what happened until at a minimum the oilwell owner has interviewed everyone on the deepwater horizon to recreate the daily log of activities on april 20. in absence of that, we should not be makin

probert? >> i think the industry has worked very hard on its safety over the course of the last decade or so, which is one reason it make this is incident such a tragic and -- so tragic and disappoint, but we support anything we can do to create a safer environment to operate in in the exploration of oil and gas. >> all right. senator udall, do you have another round? go ahead. >> thank you, ma tam chair. -- madam chair. i'm having a hard time on this cementing issue with the answers out there. can you all tell me, did each of you just answer yes or no did you read "the wall street journal" article i'm reading here? >> no. >> the one if today. front page story in the "wall street journal." i think the headline is something along the lines of two oil firms tight rig blast to plug. did you read? >> i did. >> and mr. probert? >> yes. >> two of you read it. is there anything in that article you disagree with strongly, that's just flat wrong? >> i would need to go back and read that article again t

probert take all the way back to the owner of the oilwell at bp.i would suggest altria view that we are all in this together, because this incident is affecting -- it will have an impact on the development of our energy policy for this country. if we cannot continue to operate and convince people that we can perform safely, then not only willp not be out there but the transoceans will not be out there to drill and halliburtons will not be there to provide cementing. mr. mckay, i wa to ask you some questions about what is happening right now. we have been watchi with fascination the containment dome and whether it's going to work. it's not encouraging. it's disappointing to many. we are now watching the ongoing efforts with the drilng of the two relief wells, recognizing th is two months away. now discussing the nowhitop hil. we're not certain how much volume is coming out on a daily basis. the issue with the disbursement, i would like to understand from you whether or not we have the supply of dispersants that we need, whether we are getting them o

probert about the liability. but i was a little -- i felt that the witnesses we a little more forth coming today about willingness to clean up the situation. but i was dismayed in his testimony when he talked about -- when he talked about deflecting blame from halliburton by saying that they were simply following bp's well construction plan. because it seems to me that with all of these systems, it's obvious there was a catastrophic failure and it might have been system on every level. and so i'm hoping every player here works collaborative with each other, not just to clean up and pay for these damages, but to identify how it happened, whether it was -- whether it was a, you know, a perfect storm or whatever it was because otherwise we can't have that faith as we move forward, as i said in my opening statement. we can't have that faith in supporting offshore drilling until we know how we can prevent those failures because while they are rare, they are devasta devastating. thank you. >> if i could just respond an

probert? >> we don't have knowledge of this mechanical. >> i'm just asking if that is at explanation of theha differentil is accurate?anatio accurate? >> yes i would say. >> okay. now,s mr. mckay, mr. dupree fro, bp told us on monday, he said their the results were not satisfactory, and he said therew were possible warnings that gasn was seepingot into the well andy building a pressure inside the borehole. mr. dupree is your senior the official responsible for the operations in the gulf of mexico. do you agree with his assessment? >> mr. dupree has been working on the crisis 20 hours a day. i wasn't sitting in on the. meeting that you are referring to so i was not privy to that review. 20 what i would say, 1400 psa on the drill drill pipe and no psi on the choke and kill line indicates something should bech investigated, absolutely. >> theil anomalies of the pressn testing present a significant question that should be thoroughly investigated. hours before the explosion tests on the well return

probert take all the way back to the owner of the oilwell at bp. i would suggest altria view that we are all in this together, because this incident is affecting -- it will have an impact on the development of our energy policy for this country. if we cannot continue to operate and convince people that we can perform safely, then not only will bp not be out there but the transoceans will not be out there to drill and halliburtons will not be there to provide cementing. mr. mckay, i want to ask you some questions about what is happening right now. we have been watching with fascination the containment dome and whether it's going to work. it's not encouraging. it's disappointing to many. we are now watching the ongoing efforts with the drilling of the two relief wells, recognizing that is two months away. now discussing the nowhitop hil. we're not certain how much volume is coming out on a daily basis. the issue with the disbursement, i would like to understand from you whether or not we have the supply of dispersants that we need, whether we are get

probert? >> we really need to gather the information, reconstruct the sequence of events to be in a position to establish exactly what took place. >> mr. newman, i suppose you worked for a number of companies, produced drill for them. i am intrigued by my colleagues' $10 billion cap on the strict liability legislation. i think it's something we should consider, but i understand there could be a result that it would favor only the superminimum wage or oil producers because the sum of money is so large. do you think that large of money, a bond, having to post a bond resumeably for that much, could keep competitors out of the business? smaller companies? would that be good policy? >> i'm not sure i want to comment on public policy. i believe congress ought to take into consideration all of the potential ramifications, including the commercial ramifications, of such a policy. >> senator cantwell, did you have additional questions? >> i do. i wanted to go back to mr. mckay, if i could, because i th

deepwater horizon disaster, the new ig report, and a 5-year-old plant to provide -- to provide the probert context of future offshore leasing in this country. i believe that justice the disaster on the upper branch mine in my district, it did not signal the end of all coal mining in the united states, so to in my opinion is deepwater horizon incident does not signal the end of all offshore oil and gas leasing and production in this country. however, it does raise questions that must be addressed before we can move forward. for example, does the ocs land act provide and the structure? to the mms regulations provide for adequate protection of the environment and resources held in the public trust? was the mms derelict in its responsibilities? how should mms be restructured to ensure that we effectively address the flaws in the current system that led us to this point? these and other equally important questions will be examined and answered over the coming weeks and months. if remedial action is required at all, this committee will address and draft the necessary legislation to ensure that r

america again and also the head of trans ocean limited and timothy probert of global business lines withalliburton and jack moore, president and c.e.o. of cameron who has been involved in this process. that hearing at 10:00, starting up just about now on c-span 3. houghton lake, michigan. bruce, independent, hi. caller: hi. i just like to make a comment this morning on the representative you had on from washington. host: yes. kathy mcmorris rodgers. caller: it was unbelievable to me the things that were coming out of her mouth. i just couldn't understand these people have a vocabulary of about 12 words that they keep repeating. and iel this you, i'm not losing any sleep over at&t losing money. have a good day. host: squeeze in one last call from davenport, iowa. democrat, lawrence. welcome. caller: hi. thank you for talking my