Malone, who retired last year, declined to comment for this article. A spokesman for BP was not available for comment.
Families of workers who died in the accident have already filed lawsuits accusing BP of negligence. Congress, as well as the Minerals and Management Service, the federal agency that regulates drilling in the Gulf, were already separately investigating allegations that BP has failed to keep proper documents about how to perform an emergency shutdown of the Atlantis, another Gulf oil platform and one of the largest in the world.
There are also indications that BP and Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that burned and sank, could have used backup safety gear-- a remote acoustic switch that would stanch the flow of oil from a leaking well 5,000 feet underwater -- to prevent the massive spill now floating like a slow-motion train wreck toward the Mississippi and Louisiana coastline. The switch isn't required under U.S. law, but is well-known in the industry and mandated in other parts of the world where BP operates.
In the year before the accident, BP once again aggressively cut costs. A reorganization stripped 5,000 jobs from its payroll, saving BP more than $4 billion in operating costs, according to a report sent to ProPublica by Fadel Gheit, an investment analyst for Oppenheimer.
On April 27, as the U.S. Coast Guard worked with BP engineers to guide remote control submarines nearly a mile underwater in a futile effort to close a shut-off valve, BP told investors that its quarterly earnings were up more than 100 percent over the last year, beating expectations by a large margin. After underperforming its competition throughout the last decade, Gheit wrote, BP was the only major oil company to perform better than the S&P 500 last year.
Abrahm Lustgarten is an investigative reporter for ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces journalism in the public interest.
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16 Comments
Add CommentOf course Transocean is not BP. BP was not drilling on their lease, they hired Transocean to do the drilling. So the real question is what is the record of Transocean.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd as Heinlein once wrote "Blowups Happen", and so do blow outs. So we will have to wait until the cause of the blow out is determined and then hopefully learn from this incident.
Meanwhile look on the bright side of this. This is turning out to be one heck of a well.
The U.S. is the largest consumer of oil, and drills in some of the most dangerous and environmentally sensitive regions on the planet. Why not use the safest technology and enforce the toughest regulations? Even if the cost of oil doubled, the net impact to consumers would be minimal. If you want to encourage the development of alternative energy, nothing would be as big an incentive as $200 a barrel oil.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBP and Americans must be very happy that Congressional Republicans voted to limit compensatory damages that the Oil Industry must pay for such disasters to $75 million or less.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDrill baby Drill.
The article states:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"There are also indications that BP and Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that burned and sank, could have used backup safety gear-- a remote acoustic switch that would stanch the flow of oil from a leaking well 5,000 feet underwater -- to prevent the massive spill now floating like a slow-motion train wreck toward the Mississippi and Louisiana coastline. The switch isn't required under U.S. law, but is well-known in the industry and mandated in other parts of the world where BP operates."
It should surprise few that Congress shares in the ultimate responsibility for this engineering travesty (along with everyone else, except vendicar9 and a few others relishing their victory).
So now at least let's all do everything we can to ensure that in the future no one drills without tertiary contingency plans for all such potentialities, including legislating their requirements. We've all got 5 mph bumpers on our cars, already!
That's very cheering to know that there is still plenty more to gush out. Why not take you bucket and spade and go and get some free oil ! Picj-up a few ready-made firelighter-corpses.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's sure to improve the "tourist undustry". Better get there before the "oil-rush" starts.
Lovely fantasy - but without oil, (or a substitute energy provider) money soon has no value - because there ain't no goods !!. Ever thought of that ? Much "Alternative" (to oil and nuke? , I guess) energy, uses more to create it than it provides during its wkg. life. "Modern windfarms" for instance. Sensible wind energy can float well in many locations and be "guilt-edged in particularly good ones. Strangely, neither governments nor "environmentally concerned .orgs" etc. appear interested. They Luv OIL ! Yummy yummy - we luv oil ! - even if it's all over our neighbours back country.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn short we are ruled by our addiction to the stuff - so Bigtime, that even Mr. President himself is bound to run out of breath on it. People generally have not awoken to the calamitousness of the Global energy situation. This latest disaster might at least help in that. No mention of terrorism so far - apart from this. They can all take a break. We have "Transocean" what more could we wish for in our worst nightmares ? - Oh a couple more Chernobyl's, I suppose. Still, anything is better than "maths" lesson (followed by a working life on the dole) - depending upon the teacher, of course.
Well said my friend. I totally totally totally agree . Further, I wish the media would not refer to this as a "spill". It is not a "spill" it is an on-going, unfolding disaster. I've said the rest just now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisbertwindon and David Cota...in tampa,fl we also rely on desal...probably will screw it up too....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"It is not a "spill" it is an on-going, unfolding disaster. " - Bertwindon
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWrong Bert. It's comedy.
A disaster is when a rock falls off a mountain and crushes a town.
A comedy is when a town balances a rock on a mountain in order to make money as a tourist attraction and the rock falls off and crushes the town.
It's 2010 and Uncle Sam is scenile. How many Americans does it take to turn off an oil well? None because 99 out of 100 American Gun Grubbers agree, the constitution doesn't hold that one needs to be installed.
Oh my gosh.. It's a three ring disaster, the bozo the clown forgot to install an off switch.
I was watching Faux news today and apparently - according to Faux, Obama personally caused this oil spill so that he would have an excuse to change government policy on off shore drilling.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDrill Baby Drill.
Since when does Scientific American do editorial hatchet jobs? I thought this was a technical publication.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@cpragman, nature is a technical news publication, this is a science and technology news magazine. Certainly issues of technology failure, ecosystem destruction and corruption of resource management and environmental policy qualify.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre you trying to say that it is the responsibility of Congress to legislate every possible happenstance? If there is a technology within an industry that is known to have a significant effect on overall safety within that industry, isn't it the responsibility of that industry to use it?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"If there is a technology within an industry that is known to have a significant effect on overall safety within that industry, isn't it the responsibility of that industry to use it?" - Conrad
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot in America. In America corporations are only responsible for following the law and grubbing for every dime they can extract from the slave population.
@Conrad, if congress passes legislation to protect the industry by limiting compensation claims then they better do all they can to ensure there is no need for a claim. Of course this is wishful thinking. It assumes that the intent of the government is to serve the people. The fact is the oil companies bought special treatment from the american government or in other words the american government sold its influence in creating laws that favoured the oil companies at the expence of the american people. The government is as corrupt as any third world petty dictatorship, the only difference is the third world can't afford the same lawyers and spin doctors.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry Robert, but Congressional Republicans did just that years ago to protecte Exxon.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"if congress passes legislation to protect the industry by limiting compensation claims then they better do all they can to ensure there is no need for a claim." - Robert