Mexico, April 21: Oil giant British Petroleum (BP) has sued two other oil companies for their role in the calamitous 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, alleging that negligence by both firms also contributed to the disaster.
British Petroleum said Thursday that it is suing Swiss-based rig owner Transocean for at least USD 40 billion in damages, accusing it of causing last year’s deadly blowout in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
BP claimed that Transocean “missed critical signs that hydrocarbons were flowing up the riser and failed to take appropriate actions.”
“As the owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig, Transocean is a ‘responsible party’ under the Oil Pollution Act and should therefore contribute to addressing economic and environmental damage sustained in the Gulf Coast,” BP said in a statement.
The British oil company added that it wants Transocean to pay its “proportionate” share of all damages and liabilities from the disaster.
Transocean has, however, called BP’s lawsuit “desperate,” ”specious,” and “unconscionable.”
BP said it is also suing US firm Cameron International, the manufacturers of the blowout preventer (BOP) which BP believes failed in the lead up to the 2010 oil spill.
According to the statement, one of the BOP’s “blind shear rams”, which was meant to cut the faulty drill pipe and seal the well, failed to close fully due to a piece of trapped drill pipe, precipitating the April 20 disaster.
“The Presidential Commission and BP’s internal investigation found that the Deepwater Horizon accident was the result of multiple causes involving multiple parties, including the BOP’s failure,” said the statement.
Cameron International has filed counter-claims and maintains its equipment was not responsible for the oil spill.
On April 20, 2010, eleven people were killed when the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, leading to more than 200 million gallons (757 million liters) of oil spewing from an undersea well.
BP vowed to make the people affected by the Gulf oil spill “whole” and created a 20-billion-dollar trust fund. BP’s quasi-independent claims the facility has paid USD 3.9 billion to 177,000 claimants.
One year after the oil spill, the long-term impact of the disaster on the ecological health of the gulf has still to be sort out.
——–Agencies