We all make mistakes

8 September 2010 By Fiona Maharg-Bravo

The market has modestly welcomed BP’s report into the Gulf of Mexico disaster. The subdued reaction looks about right. Nothing has emerged to make the UK oil group appear guilty of gross negligence. But BP looks like it’s trying to deflect blame and it won’t have the last word.

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BP's investigation into the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in April found that no single factor caused the tragedy, but identified eight key causes.

The report criticised the cementing of the well, conducted by Halliburton, as well as the socalled blowout preventer, operated by deepwater drilling specialist Transocean. The UK oil and gas major also blamed the rig's workers for failing to recognise and act on the influx of oil in the well over a 40minute period. BP accepted that its workers, in conjunction with Transocean, had incorrectly interpreted a pressure test which may have prevented the blowout of the well. But BP said the design of the well, for which it was responsible, was "unlikely" to have caused the accident.

Tony Hayward, BP's outgoing chief executive, said: "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. The negative pressure test was accepted when it should not have been, there were failures in well control procedures and in the blowout preventer; and the rig's fire and gas system did not prevent ignition."

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