Immediately following the release this morning of Transocean’s internal investigation report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster last year, several of the companies involved in the accident, analysts and politicians were ready with responses.
Halliburton Co., which Transocean faulted for not adequately testing cement barriers in BP’s doomed Macondo well, said it “remains confident that all the work we performed with respect to the Macondo well was completed in accordance with BP’s specifications for its well construction plan and instructions.”
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BP officials said that Transocean appears to have “cherry-picked the facts in support of its litigation strategy.”
“The Transocean report must be viewed in the context of official investigation findings by the Presidential Commission and the US Coast Guard that the Deepwater Horizon accident was the result of multiple causes, involving multiple parties, including Transocean,” BP said in a statement. “Indeed, the US Coast Guard identified “serious safety management system failures and a poor safety culture” at Transocean.”
“Unlike BP, which has stepped up to its responsibilities and cooperated with all official investigations regarding the accident, Transocean continues to take every opportunity to avoid its responsibilities.”
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A spokeswoman for oil field services firm Weatherford International could not immediately reached for comment. In the report, Transocean said a piece of equipment built by Weatherford to prevent backflow up the well casing likely failed.
Lt. Sue Kerver, spokeswoman for the U.S. Coast Guard, declined to comment directly on the Transocean report. She said the Coast Guard and Interior Department have already taken into account evidence and findings submitted by the companies involved in the disaster, and will consider the items as they compile a final joint investigation report, due July 27.
Elsewhere, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said the “circular finger-pointing contest” between the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon accident is proof that there needs to be tougher safety regulations.
“Today’s Transocean report says little to shed new light on the details of the disaster, but the problems identified by the spill commission continue to cry out for Congressional action to pass comprehensive safety standards for deepwater offshore drilling,” Markey said. “Sadly, Republican leaders in Washington refuse to bring offshore drilling safety legislation to a vote in the House, or even hold legislative hearings on the matter.”
“The oil industry should share responsibility for keeping their workers and American waters safe, instead of relying on their lawyers to stake out the best position for their company following a disaster.”
Meanwhile, analysts with Houston investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said the findings of the Transocean report were “no surprise,” as they place much of the blame on BP for faulty well design and poor execution.
The analysts note that Transocean does indicate that the drilling crew, including its own personnel on the Deepwater Horizon rig, didn’t initially detect an influx of hydrocarbons into the well prior to the fatal blowout.
But “liability is ultimately going to be decided by courts” as well as “the ability of the contract indemnification to protect Transocean,” the banks’ analysts said.
Cameron made the BOP, the massive leak is on their shoulders (and wallet).
The BOP failed to seal/shear the well. BP negligence caused the deaths as they directed the operation on the deck.
As much an Obama failure as Bush’s Katrina. Let’s highlight daily how pathetic it was handled, that the threats were empty and accomplished nothing except to convince morons that Obama the loser was actually doing something. Let’s dredge through this thing like we did with Bush. Get a commission of radical Republicans to write a report and wave it everywhere as proof of how superior they are with their little trumped up report. Let the most ignorant of their followers feel vindicated in their enlightenment. By all means…keep it going!!!
As if Rep. Markey hasn’t been doing his share of finger pointing.
LnL, BOPs are not guaranteed to seal a well bore under blow out conditions. In the same way air bags are not guaranteed to save your life in a high speed crash. Yes BP was in charge and are responsible, particularly in regards to the misinterpretation of the negative, but not sure Transocean will be able to prove “gross negligence”, which would protect them from liability. According to the service contract, the Transocean rig hands should have been monitoring the well during displacement. The other fatal mistake they made was to divert the kick to the gas buster. My guess is that after all is said and done the liability is going to fall on BP and Transocean. Cameron and Halliburton might kick in a token amount, but will escape most of the liability.
Should have been “negative test”.
While Cameron did make the BOP, it was a used, hand-me-down BOP that BP used. Cameron did not approve of it because they did no repairs on it and there was no warranty. I work for a competitor within the industry.
Something else most people do not understand is that the real accident and tragedy here was not the blow out itself, but the failure to contain it. Had this kick happen during drilling, it most likely would have been contained in a routine manner. This happen after the well was thought to have been cased and cemented. People were not paying attention.
In addition to what Mark said, you sign a Cameron release when you buy the BOP brand new. Transocean is going to responsible for the BOP, not Cameron.
There is not a BOP on the planet that could have prevented this disaster, that is the most Earth shaking lesson to be learned which has been identified to date.
Under the pressure and flow conditions prevailing at the moment the BOP was activated by the drilling crew, the working string was deflected beyond the reach of the BSRs.
Only by reconfiguring the rams to work in concert in close proximity to force centralization and containment simultaneously can a blowout preventer actually shut in a well under these conditions.
And even that would not have saved the Deepwater Horizon, by the time the drilling crew had shut in the well, a million cubic feet of gas had hit the rig at over five hundred miles per hour.
BPs cementing and temporary abandonment procedures made kick detection far more difficult than normal, at and at the same time the BP company men gave the drilling crew no warning that they were in a condition of greatly enhanced risk, the drillers were told the well was secure, therefore the drilling crew identified the influx of hydrocarbons too late.
It would appear that BOPs need to be redesigned to colocate VBRs and BSRs, and either the incorporation of automated hydrocarbon influx detection, or more careful permitting of operators should be adopted.
With a history from mass murder for oil in Iran a hundred years ago to a key role failing to do its job in Prince William Sound causing the Exxon Valdez disaster to blowing up Texas City to blowing up the Deepwater Horizon last year, with a record of hundreds of times more serious citations for safety violations, it is perfectly clear that BP is not, and will never be, worthy of trust to respect human life and our environment.
We need to either get rid of BP, or figure out a way to deploy a BP proof BOP.