BP on the 8th announced the Gulf of Mexico oil spill investigation report, found that 8 key mistakes together led to oil rig "Sham Shui Po Horizon" explosion and oil spill.
Some analysts believe that British Petroleum intends to use the report to divert responsibility. The owner of the well blamed BP for trying to hide the key facts.
Eight errors involve multiple parties
The BP internal investigation report was 193 pages long and was led by the investigation team of Marc Blair, head of the corporate security department.
The report said that the accident was due to a series of complex chain factors such as mechanical failure, personnel judgment, and operation execution. Involving multiple parties' consecutive mistakes rather than a single factor triggers a rig explosion.
The report emphasized that eight key mistakes together led to the explosion of the “deep water horizon†of oil rigs and oil spills. These faults are mainly caused by the Swiss Transocean Drilling Company and the US Halliburton Company. The former is the owner of the oil well and the latter is responsible for oil well reinforcement.
Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20 and sank into the Gulf of Mexico about 36 hours later. Eleven rig workers died. A lot of crude oil leaked.
There have been investigations showing that the explosion was caused by a methane bubble. The bubble broke through a cement seal at the bottom of the well and climbed from the high pressure point at the bottom of the drill pipe to a low pressure point, breaking several safety barriers and gradually expanding, eventually causing an explosion.
British Petroleum believes that due to the "unstable" reinforcement material used by Halliburton, methane gas bubbles can enter the well.
The report said: "In 40 minutes, the staff failed to realize that hydrocarbons (ie, methane bubbles) entered the well and that no action was taken so that it quickly rose to the surface of the well."
In the report, British Petroleum reiterated that the BOP should have been automatically shut down when an accident occurred in the well. "But it failed to do this, which may be due to failure of key components." Fail-proof blowout valves are manufactured by Cameron International.
British Petroleum Denies Transferring Liability
Critics argue that many of British Petroleum’s cost-saving measures have led to this disaster. This report defended the design of British Petroleum wells.
British Petroleum CEO Hayward said: "This accident is unlikely to be triggered by well design." Svenberge, the British oil board, said that in order to avoid a repeat of the tragedy, the investigation team proposed to strengthen the anti-nozzle valve and improve personnel capabilities. Wait for 25 suggestions. BP’s global drilling operations will implement these recommendations. Bob Dudley, who is scheduled to serve as CEO of British Petroleum next month, said: "We are determined to learn lessons and will conduct extensive reviews to further enhance operational safety."
Reuters commented that the report showed that British Petroleum tried to attribute most of the explosions to Halliburton and the Transocean Drilling Company.
The Associated Press believes that this report reflects the British Petroleum strategy to deal with legal disputes, that is, to divert responsibility for accidents.
However, British Petroleum denied the transfer of responsibility.