BP’s ‘cost-cutting decisions’ blamed for ‘avoidable’ Gulf of Mexico oil spill
January 6th, 2011 - 5:22 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Jan 6(ANI): The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was an avoidable disaster caused in part by a series of ‘cost-cutting decisions’ made by BP and its partners, the White House oil commission has said.
In a preview of its final report, due next week, the commission said that systemic management failure at BP, Transocean, and Halliburton caused the blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico, the Guardian reports.
It also warned that such a disaster would likely recur because of industry complacency.
“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),” the report said.
The report also emphasised that BP, which owned the well, did not enforce proper controls to manage increased risks.
“BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure that key decisions in the months leading up to the blow-out were safe or sound from an engineering perspective,” the report said
It continued on the same theme, concluding: “Most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can be traced back to a single overarching failure - a failure of management.”
The spill, which stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion, is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
The leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead on July 15, after it had released about 4.9 million barrels of crude oil.
It was estimated that 53,000 barrels per day were escaping from the well just before it was capped.
It is also believed that the daily flow rate diminished over time, starting at about 62,000 barrels per day and decreasing as the reservoir of hydrocarbons feeding the gusher was gradually depleted.
On September 19, the relief well process was successfully completed and the US government declared the well “effectively dead”.
The spill continues to cause extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. (ANI)
- Investigation report blames failure of 'blowout preventer' for Gulf of Mexico oil spill - Mar 24, 2011
- US blames BP's poor decisions for Gulf oil spill - Sep 15, 2011
- Transocean gives bonuses for 'safety' after Gulf of Mexico oil spill - Apr 04, 2011
- US terms reports of BP resuming Gulf of Mexico drilling as 'misconception' - Apr 05, 2011
- US allows BP to drill new Gulf deepwater wells - Oct 22, 2011
- BP sues Cameron, Deepwater Horizon owner Transocean over Gulf of Mexico oil spill - Apr 21, 2011
- 'Gulf oil spill criticises BP for disaster, but charges against company is unlikely' - Jan 07, 2011
- "Poor safety culture" onboard Deepwater Horizon led to last year's massive Gulf oil spill - Apr 23, 2011
- BP to pay $7.8 bn to victims of oil spill - Mar 05, 2012
- Investigation begins into Gulf of Mexico oil spill - May 11, 2010
- Gulf of Mexico gusher can spew 100,000 barrels of oil a day: BP document - Jun 21, 2010
- Rep. Waxman expressed dissapointment with BP's internal investigation into oil spill - May 28, 2010
- BP releases a 193 page investigative report into the Gulf oilrig mishap - Sep 09, 2010
- Leaking US oil well capped; tests to show how effectively - Jul 13, 2010
- BP sued over gulf oil spill - Dec 16, 2010
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