BP put speed ahead of safety, says US report
BP made a series of decisions while drilling its doomed Macondo well that saved time but added risks prior to its massive Gulf spill, according to a White House oil spill commission document.
The chart compiled by the commission’s investigative team outlines 11 unnecessary actions taken by BP and its partners in the lead-up to the largest offshore oil spill in US history.
The document has not been officially released by the commission, but was made public in an article by energy trade publication Greenwire yesterday.
BP workers on shore made most of these risky decisions, such as not waiting for more centralisers (devices used to ensure the cement casing is applied evenly around the well) and not installing additional plugs and barriers, the commission document said.
The chart stands in contrast to some comments made by the commission’s investigators during that hearing that BP workers did not cut corners on safety to save money.
The investigators said their initial findings only indicated that workers on the rig did not consciously risk their own safety due to concerns about money.