It is important to remember that the Deepwater Horizon was a drilling rig, not a production rig. Its function was to locate and drill for oil. Once it completed that task, it was the job of workers on the rig to "cap" the well until another vessel could come and capture the oil and gas.

On April 20, the Deepwater Horizon crew was in the process of capping the well. Standard operating procedure calls for pressure testing to be done to ensure that the cement utilized to set and cap the well is not allowing any leakage or seepage of oil and gas.

When Halliburton performed its tests, the results suggested a leak, which should have called for the introduction of additional cement and time for the cement to dry and harden. This did not occur. Instead, Transocean and BP "got their heads together"and determined that operations should continue. How did they reach this conclusion? Transocean and BP claim to have performed their own tests "and they came out OK." Problem is - there is no record of these tests. All records on board the drilling rig are at the bottom of the Gulf and transmissions on the drilling report cease at 3 p.m.

Halliburton says it was not shown the test results BP and Transocean claim to have reviewed, and the Halliburton workers "were scratching their heads" over the decision to proceed.

So, here is the question: Are BP and Transocean telling the truth?

That's the thing about lawsuits. While the factual background of cases may involve complicated matters, the fundamental questions of motivation and credibility tend to be quite simple across a wide spectrum.

The AP story about this is linked here -(http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_15980/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=b6ddNHfv).