BP Shrugs Responsibility For Explosion

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - The Talk Radio News Service

In remarks Wednesday after the release of a BP-led investigation into the cause of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April, BP’s incoming chief executive Bob Dudley said, “the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon was a shared responsibility among many entities.”

These claims come in harsh opposition to BP America Chairman and President Lamar McKay’s earlier statements - “Liability, blame, fault, put it over here … we are the responsible party.”

According to the investigation - which BP funded, led, and published - the ultimate explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig was the result of a chain of blunders - eight incidents in all. 

First, the cement barrier meant to isolate oil from the annulus (the space between the casing pipe and the surrounding rock) failed to isolate the oil. Then, another measure - called “shoe track barriers” - failed to isolate the oil. 

Negative-pressure testing was somehow accepted, and crews failed to recognize the influx of oil into the wellbore. Safety mechanisms should have then closed the blowout preventer, but instead the oil-mud mixture was diverted into the mud-gas separator, where the gas was vented directly onto the rig. Although a safety mechanism was designed to then prevent ignition, the fire and gas system failed.

All in all, the blowout preventer was ineffective although three separate methods of launching emergency mode were initiated.