By Gerald Helguero: Subscribe to Gerald's RSS feed
September 8, 2010 1:03 PM EDT
In a long-awaited report, BP said on Wednesday that a series of failures involving multiple companies caused the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion which killed 11 workers, injured 17 and led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
No "single action or inaction," caused the incident, according to conclusions from 50 BP investigators in a 192 page report.
Outgoing BP CEO Tony Hayward named BP, Halliburton, and Transocean as some of the companies involved.
"To put it simply, there was a bad cement job and a failure of the shoe track barrier at the bottom of the well, which let hydrocarbons from the reservoir into the production casing," Hayward said. Cementing work was carried out by Halliburton.
"The negative pressure test was accepted when it should not have been," he said, referring to the report's conclusion that Transocean's rig crew and BP's well site leaders reached the incorrect view that the test was successful and that well integrity had been established.
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"There were failures in well control procedures and in the blow-out preventer; and the rig's fire and gas system did not prevent ignition," he said. Transocean's crew did not recognize an influx of oil and gas into the well until they were far up in the riser pipe, well past a safety device with hydraulic valves known as a blowout preventer.
"Through a review of rig audit findings and maintenance records, the investigation team found indications of potential weaknesses in the testing regime and maintenance management system for the BOP," according to the report.
The report comes nearly five months since the April 20 disaster and will play a key role in explaining the company's accountability to the public for the spill, which released 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico according to the government, and for the first time explains the company's position on the causes of the incident.
It is also be one point of reference in helping to determine what legal liability the company will have to bear for the spill. While BP has taken responsibility for cleanup and Gulf restoration costs, BP has until now refused to publicly disclose any conclusions about what caused the incident, citing the pending internal investigation.
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