Worker: Rig was bustling before blowout

Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon in this April 2010 file photo. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, File)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A worker says a flurry of activity on the Deepwater Horizon hindered his ability to monitor BP’s well for signs of trouble before the April 2010 blowout that caused the drilling rig to explode.

Joseph Keith, a mud logger employed by a Halliburton division, testified Wednesday at a trial over the disaster that he never saw any indications of a blowout before drilling mud started raining down on the rig floor.

Keith said rig workers were performing other tasks that made it more difficult for him to monitor the well owned by BP PLC for signs of a “kick,” or unexpected flow of fluids into the wellbore.

Keith described himself as a “second pair of eyes” on data that could have showed him and others that a blowout was imminent.