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According to industry news source Fuel Fix, internal documents from Transocean reveal that the company failed to properly maintain the Deepwater Horizon by avoiding important repairs and upkeep in the years leading up to the incident.
A couple of executives from Halliburton, the company hired by BP to supply the cement for the Macondo well, testified in court early this week, revealing that the slurry used to seal the equipment had a “low probability of success.”
On the second day of the civil trial against BP, the London-based oil and gas giant responsible for the disastrous Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in 2010, attorneys called expert witness Robert Bea to the stand.
According to The Huffington Post, one of the main questions that needs to be answered is whether BP’s actions were negligent or grossly negligent.
In August 2012, two workers were killed and one was injured at Watco Mechanical Services in Hockley, Texas, when a flash fire broke out at a mechanical facility. On February 20, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced in a press release that it has cited three companies in connection with the incident.
On February 20, the San Antonio Express-News published an article presenting the alarming conclusion that work-related deaths at Texas’s Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas fields over the last few years could have been prevented.
According to FuelFix, a news source that focuses on the energy industry, Transocean Ltd. owned the deep-water rig that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. On February 14, the company pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act and will pay $400 million in criminal penalties.
Although it is encouraging to see that BP is implementing serious changes in reaction to the 2010 explosion and oil spill, the fact remains that lives were taken and many people were significantly impacted by the company’s negligence.
A February 10 article published by the Houston Chronicle reveals that although workplace deaths in the Lone Star State have declined overall, the oil industry still suffers from a significant number of work-related fatalities each year.
On February 4, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Knoxville, Tennessee, announced that it had upheld convictions against engineers Clark Roberts and Sean Howley for stealing trade secrets from tire company Goodyear in 2007, but said that it would reverse and remand the men’s sentences.
