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Rig Owner Blames BP For Gulf Oil Disaster

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burned on April 21, 2010.
U.S. Coast Guard
/
Getty Images
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burned on April 21, 2010.

Saying that "as operator of the Macondo well, BP directed all aspects of its development," the owner of the rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 today made its case that the blame for the worst oil spill in U.S. history should be placed on the shoulders of the British company.

Transocean has posted the results of its internal investigation online here. It says that:

"The Macondo incident was the result of a succession of interrelated well design, construction, and temporary abandonment decisions that compromised the integrity of the well and compounded the risk of its failure. The decisions, many made by the operator, BP, in the two weeks leading up to the incident, were driven by BP's knowledge that the geological window for safe drilling was becoming increasingly narrow."

The Associated Press notes that:

"BP's own internal report on the disaster blamed a cascade of failures by multiple companies for the disaster. Government investigations also have spread around the blame. The findings by all of the various sides will be argued about for months and perhaps years to come as numerous lawsuits make their way through court. The companies involved in the disaster have sued each other seeking to recoup their losses or expected losses from the disaster.

"BP officials did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment."

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.