US panel blames BP, Transocean and Halliburton for Gulf of Mexico oil spill
06 Jan 2011
Holding all three operators of the Macondo well responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a US panel has concluded that the catastrophe was a 'systemic' management failure and could have been avoided.
Presenting its final report on the disaster, the presidential commission said that British oil giant BP, rig owner Transocean and oil services contractor Halliburton were all responsible since official of these companies ignored critical warning signs and took risky decisions that caused the worst oil spill in the history of the US.
But it also blamed the regulators, who were inept in dealing with the risks associated in deep-water exploration.
Critical decisions taken on 20 April on the Deepwater Horizon rig before the blow-out were taken by the three companies to save time and money.
"Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time and money," said the advance chapter of the report.
The full report is scheduled to be released next week.
On 20 April the Deepwater Horizon rig belonging to Transocean and leased to BP caught fire and exploded killing 11 people and led to more than 200 million gallons of oil spewing from BP's Macondo well that was located a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico.
