(Demotivator by William Benhoff, from a photo by Mark and Vicki Cipolle)
Almost from the outset of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20, BP has insisted that this wasn't its accident. Now, after four months of investigating itself, BP appears to have arrived at more or less the same conclusion. From the executive summary of BP's report (pdf):
The team did not identify any single action or inaction that caused this accident. Rather, a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces came together to allow the initiation and escalation of the accident. Multiple companies, work teams and circumstances were involved over time.
The BP report comes with video and appendices and will take a little while to read. Go for it.
If you're in this for what's going to happen next, you can get that in one word: Lawsuits. BP partner Transocean bit back, right away with this statement:
This is a self-serving report that attempts to conceal the critical factor that set the stage for the Macondo incident: BP's fatally flawed well design. In both its design and construction, BP made a series of cost-saving decisions that increased risk - in some cases, severely. Those decisions, made exclusively by BP, included:
Using a long production string rather than a casing tie back, decreasing the number of barriers to gas flow.
Neglecting to run a cement bond log (CBL) to test the integrity of the cement.
Installing fewer than one third of the recommended number of centralizers, dramatically increasing the risk of cement channeling and gas flow.
Failing to conduct a complete "bottoms up" circulation of the well to insure the quality of the cement seal.
Not running a lockdown sleeve to secure the production string to the well head, eliminating yet another barrier to a blowout.
Transocean's investigation is ongoing, and will be concluded when all of the evidence is in, including the critical information the company has requested of BP but has yet to receive.
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This is called "The Big Lebowski Defense".
This is a complex case... a lot of ins, a lot of outs. A lot of details... rolls off the tongue a lot easier than "We are guilty."
How many people are out there who continue to believe that BP IS NOT a human and eco-system sacrificing cult of Mammon? We'll be finding out the final cost of their misadventure for decades if not generations...and they say its not their fault. What do you EXPECT them to say?
Of course BP didn't find themselves at fault, they have their stockholders to keep at bay. It looks to me like they didn't flat out lie, they just did the good old point the finger game. By making it seem like a confluence of events that were all technical in nature caused the problem, it takes the human blame off of the table (in their minds). It is not the noble thing to do, but it is the way the corporate game is played.
Why should we be mad at them for trying this? The same thing just happened with the economic collapse: no one being held responsible, and the crooks getting off scott free. What is to make BP think that our government is actually going to prosecute ANYONE in a large corporation when our history has shown them to be above the law?
I'd hardly think TransOcean, or Halliburton for that matter, would step up and take any part of the blame. I'm not buying that either one is guilt free, but bottom line is BP was the one in charge.
It's like when one of your staff screws up and the big boss calls you in to discuss it. Odds are he or she is not going to accept "It was all xxx's fault." Or at least I've never had a boss that would accept that as an excuse, nor have I expected it.
Funny how that works. If you're in charge, it's your responsibility.
BP...makes me sad. I'm from Panama City, FL.