Transocean points finger at BP for oil spill

22nd Jun 2011 13:55

Transocean, in what looks like another round of blame game, has pointed the finger at BP for the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the resultant offshore oil spill, the most disastrous in history.Transocean, the owner of the rig, said the Macondo incident was the result of a series of well design and construction failures and more importantly, the decisions made by BP in the two weeks leading up to the incident, despite its knowledge that the "geological window for safe drilling was becoming increasingly narrow."In its report, Transocean said evidence indicates that BP failed to properly assess, manage and communicate risk to its contractors, did not properly confirm critical cement tests or conduct adequate risk assessments during various operations, and finally proceeded with a temporary abandonment plan that created unnecessary risks.Furthermore, Transocean said Halliburton, the maker of the cement that was used to seal the well, and BP did not adequately test the cement slurry program, despite risks associated with the design and implementation.Earlier, Transocean denied responsibility for the rig explosion saying that it had leased the rig to BP, while BP had pinned the blame on Transocean for the oil slick as Transocean was in charge of the safety in the drilling operations. In April, a U.S. Coast Guard probe revealed that Transocean's badly designed safety systems, improper maintenance, inadequate staffing and insufficient staff training added to the reason for the rig explosion. Transocean had refuted the findings.Shares of BP were down 0.7% at 442.5p in afternoon trading.AR