Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

A couple of points raised by our highly informed readers:

1. With regard to allegations about deficiencies in BP’s Atlantis (deepwater production facility), an industry source closely involved with the project (but not a BP employee) offered the following comment:

Atlantis was by far, in my opinion, the best of the bunch; proceeded as a normal construction project. The PMs were the best I’ve come across

2. While the absence of an acoustic backup system (BOP) no longer seems to be significant in this case, the effectiveness of such systems is an important point of discussion.  Some readers have voiced support for acoustic backups.  Others believe the ambient noise associated with a seafloor blowout would render these acoustic systems ineffective.  Has the noise issue been evaluated?  Should a Joint Industry Project be initiated to evaluate the performance of these systems?