CHICAGO — BP sought to spread the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, setting off a battle of oil industry giants with tens of billions of dollars in potential fines and legal liabilities at stake.
The British energy giant released a report concluding that a “sequence of failures” were to blame for the April 20 explosion that killed 11 people and unleashed 4.9 million barrels of oil in the worst-ever maritime spill.
While admitting some mistakes, BP exonerated its well design and apportioned a large share of the blame to faults made by rig owner Transocean and contractor Halliburton, which cemented the well.
The contractors responded by calling the report flawed and self-serving, while also asserting that BP was ultimately responsible for overseeing and approving all work done on its well.
The four-month probe, led by BP's head of safety and operations Mark Bly, is viewed as key to how the firm plans to defend itself in legal proceedings involving the spill.
“This report likely does its job in providing ammo (ammunition) for BP in future court cases, where the avoidance of the charge of 'gross negligence' is critical,” said Peter Hutton, an oil market analyst at NCB Stockbrokers.
BP and its investment partners Anadarko and Mitsui are financially responsible for the clean-up costs, fines and compensation for damages. Transocean has also been deemed a “responsible party” by the US government.
That responsibility could shift and fines could skyrocket if BP — or any of the contractors — are found to be guilty of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
The oil company said key failings included a “bad cement job” at the bottom
of the well that allowed gas and liquids to flow up the production casing.
Additionally, the results of a negative pressure test were incorrectly accepted by BP and Transocean, while the rig's blow-out preventer on the seabed failed to automatically seal the well. “It is evident that a series of complex events, rather than a single mistake or failure, led to the tragedy,” BP's outgoing chief executive Tony Hayward said in a summary of the 200-page report.
Transocean dismissed the report, accusing BP of having designed a “fatally flawed” well and making “cost-saving decisions that increased risk — in some cases, severely.”
“This is a self-serving report that attempts to conceal the critical factor that set the stage for the Macondo incident: BP's fatally flawed well design,” said the Swiss-based group. — AFP