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US officials hold BP primarily responsible in Gulf oil spill
Sep 14, 2011, 22:14 GMT
Washington - British oil firm BP is primarily responsible for last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, US officials said Wednesday in an investigative report on the disaster.
But Swiss firm Transocean and US oil company Halliburton also held some responsibility, according to a report by the US Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation, and Enforcement.
BP made decisions in the sealing of the oil well that made it more complicated and riskier and may have contributed to its ultimate failure on April 20, 2010, which killed 11 workers and led to a months long ecological disaster, the study found.
BP 'was ultimately responsible for conducting operations at Macondo in a way that ensured the safety and protection of personnel, equipment, natural resources, and the environment,' the report said.
It leased the oil platform from Transocean and Halliburton was paid to cement the well.
Officials only managed to cap the well and halt the flow of oil in August after some 780 million liters of raw oil had spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.
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