An expert panel investigating the BP oil spill has concluded that managers on the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig made a series of terrible decisions leading up to the disaster. But in a departure from previous findings, the interim report by a committee of the National Research Council concludes that cost considerations by BP may have played a significant role, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Decisions “appear to be made in the direction of reduced schedule and reduced cost,” said Donald C. Winter, the committee chairman, former secretary of the Navy and professor at the University of Michigan, in a conference call. “That causes us to question the overall risk management approach used and causes us to question the adequacy of checks and balances to weigh cost and time versus risk and safety.”
Last week, a preliminary report by a presidential commission said the panel found no evidence that BP or its contractors had deliberately compromised safety to save money, as some lawmakers and critics had claimed.
The April explosion killed 11 workers aboard the rig and spewed about 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. At the time of the blast, crews were working to temporarily plug the well and move the rig to another site, though they were 40 days behind schedule, which was costing BP millions.
Prior to the explosion, both BP and Halliburton, the cement contractor, had test results that revealed problems with the cement used to seal the bottom of the well, but they proceeded anyway, the report says. Pressure tests to check the integrity of the well’s cement seals found abnormal pressure readings each time. But the rig’s top managers said the tests were successful and they continued to work.
“When they went ahead, their options narrowed greatly,” Paul M. Bommer, a lecturer in petroleum engineering at the University of Texas and a member of the committee, told the Times. “That was a key moment.”
Engineers on the committee said they have not gotten a clear answer about why the tests were declared successful.
The interim report issued Wednesday is the most recent in a series of investigations trying to uncover the causes of the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The committee’s final report will be issued in June.
In a statement, BP said that the report did not contain evidence from tests conducted by the presidential commission that the company says lays blame on Halliburton for faulty cement work.
Related Posts:
Panel Finds No Deliberate Corner-Cutting by BP and its Contractors
