Oil spill blame game at Congress hearing

BP PLC told Congress last night its massive Gulf oil spill was caused by the failure of a key safety device made by another company.

That company says BP was in charge, and a third company that poured concrete to plug the exploratory well didn’t do it properly.

The third company, which was plugging the well in anticipation of future production, says it was only following BP’s plan.

The blame game shot into the open yesterday as the US Senate began a hearing into the oil spill that has been contaminating water in the Gulf of Mexico for three weeks and threatens sensitive marshes and marine life from Louisiana to Texas.

Executives of the three companies, all scheduled to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, are trying to shift responsibility for the environmental crisis to each other, according to prepared testimony.

In opening the hearing, Senator Jeff Bingaman, the committee’s chairman, said the failures that led to the explosion and spill need to be closely examined so new safety measures can be imposed.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the panel’s ranking Republican, said it is essential to determine if the drilling rig operators followed regulations and the law. She said the accident must not interfere with continued offshore oil exploration and production.

The industry testimony planned for the hearing demonstrated the fissures among companies caught up in the accident and its legal and economic fallout.

“I hear one message – don’t blame me,” said Senator John Barrasso.

A top executive of BP Plc, which leased the rig for exploratory drilling, focused on a safety device that was supposed to shut off oil flow on the ocean floor in the event of a well blowout but “failed to operate”.

“That was to be the fail-safe in case of an accident,” Lamar McKay, chairman of BP America, said, pointedly noting that the 450-ton blowout protector – as well as the rig itself – was owned by Transocean.

However, Transocean chief Steven Newman sought to put responsibility on BP. “Offshore oil and gas production projects begin and end with the operator.”

His testimony says it was BP that prepared the drilling plan and was in charge when drilling concluded.

Newman also cites a third company, Halliburton Inc, which was encasing the well pipe in cement before plugging it.

A Halliburton executive, Tim Probert, planned to assert that the company’s work was finished “in accordance with the requirements” set out by BP and with accepted industry practices.

BP and Transocean are conducting investigations into what went wrong.