BP did not risk safety for profits, report says

9th Nov 2010 09:41

A US investigation into the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year has found no evidence that BP put profits before safety.The presidential commission examining the oil spill said it agreed with about 90% of BP's analysis of the disaster, which began with the explosion of the rig and 11 deaths on April 20. 'To date, we have not seen a single instance where a human being made a conscious decision to favour dollars over safety,' the chief counsel to the commission, Fred Bartlit, said.However, he said that just hours before the explosion, employees of BP and the well's operator Transocean accepted the results of a well test that should have been acted on, which contributed to the accident.An investigation by BP in September found that while it was in part responsible for the disaster, Transocean and Halliburton, the other company working on the rig that caused the oil spill, were also to blame.The commission's initial findings come as former BP chief executive Tony Hayward defended BP's handling of the disaster - including his decision to participate in a yacht race at the height of the crisis.The commission's final report is due in January.