Report blames BP oil spill on 'systemic failures'

Washington - Last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was "rooted in systemic failures" by the companies involved in the disaster, according to an advance portion of a report by a presidential commission.

The commission blamed BP plc, the oil company that owned and operated the well, in addition to Transocean Ltd, the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which exploded and sank. Halliburton Co, an oilfield services company which also worked on the project, also shares responsibility, the report said.

Managers from all three companies failed to take actions that could have prevented the April 20 blowout, the commission found.

The Deepwater Horizon burned and sank with 11 men on board in April. The well spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for months before it could be capped and permanently sealed in mid-September.

"The blowout was not the product of a series of aberrational decisions made by rogue industry or government officials that could not have been anticipated or expected to occur again," the report says.

"Rather, the root causes are systemic and, absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur."

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360932,oil-spill-systemic-failures.html