BP on Wednesday released its long-awaited internal report on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that called the disaster “a shared responsibility” caused by a “sequence of failures involving a number of different parties,” The New York Times reports.
The report cited multiple mistakes by BP and other firms, but did not place blame on its much-criticized well design, The Washington Post reports.
In a statement, BP’s outgoing chief executive, Tony Hayward, said, the findings make it “appear unlikely that the well design contributed to the incident.”
Instead, the report focused more on mistakes made by contractors, particularly Halliburton, which performed cement work on the well, and Transocean, which owned the rig and employed its workers.
The BP assessment found that Halliburton’s cement seal may have allowed explosive natural gas to rush up to the rig. It faulted Transocean workers for failing to notice the flow of hydrocarbons into the well for more than 40 minutes, and then for failing to vent gas properly.
The report also noted mistakes by BP — including misreading pressure data that indicated a blowout was imminent — but tried to dispel the idea that the company acted with gross negligence. It also downplayed criticism that BP used a cheaper but riskier well casing with its finding that the blowout came up the center of the pipe, and not up the outside of the well casing.
Though The Times called the report a public relations exercise, the assessment appears to offer a preview of BP’s legal strategy as it faces hundreds of pending lawsuits, and possible criminal and civil charges.
Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was highly critical. “BP is happy to slice up blame, as long as they get the smallest piece,” he said in a statement.
The other companies have not yet released reports, and Halliburton has complained that BP has not turned over data that would help Halliburton with its investigation. Transocean called BP’s assessment “a self-serving report” that tries to conceal the company’s “fatally flawed well design.” It said BP “made a series of cost-saving decisions that increased risk — in some cases, severely.”
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