The New York Times has a link to the full 217-page report the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The NYT summary:
The central cause of the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was a failure of the cement at the base of the 18,000-foot-deep well that was supposed to contain oil and gas within the well bore. That led to a cascade of human and mechanical errors that allowed natural gas under tremendous pressure to shoot onto the drilling platform, causing an explosion and fire that killed 11 of the 126 crew members and caused an oil spill that took 87 days to get under control…
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The report concluded that BP, as the wellâs owner, was ultimately responsible for the accident. But it also said that BPâs chief contractors, Transocean, which owned the mobile drilling rig, and Halliburton, which was responsible for the cementing operations, shared the blame for many of the fatal mistakes.
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The study goes further than previous reports, citing seven violations of federal regulations as factors. Among them were violations of laws that required BP and its contractors to operate in a safe manner, to take measures to contain oil and gas for the protection of health and the environment, to conduct reliable tests of well pressures and to notify federal regulators of changes in drilling plans.
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The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation that could bring indictments and heavy fines…
“A Cascade of Human & Mechanical Errors”Post + Comments (14)