The United States has now put the lion’s share of the blame for the oil spill on BP. The Government issued its final assessment of last year’s Gulf disaster in mid-September. This report could play a huge role in BP’s decision-making as it relates to settlement. It could also set the stage for criminal charges. The Coast Guard and the offshore oil regulator said in the report that BP was solely to blame for eight more. That was not good news for BP.
After the most definitive look yet at the disaster, investigators said BP focused excessively on containing costs and speeding up operations, and made a series of decisions that complicated cementing operations, which they said were the central cause of the disaster. While the findings were broadly in line with several previous investigations, this report offered the most comprehensive look at the government’s official view on the cause of the Gulf’s oil spill, including analysis of the recovered blowout preventer and violations of federal regulations by the companies involved with the well. It was significant that the report said:”BP’s cost or time saving decisions without considering contingencies and mitigation were contributing causes of the Macondo blowout.”
The Justice Department had already sued the well’s owners,BP,Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Mitsui & Co., as well as Transocean. These civil claims are now before the federal court in New Orleans, where a trial allocating blame for the spill. Many believe the report increases the likelihood that BP, Transocean, and Halliburton will face criminal charges for their roles in causing the Gulf oil spill. The findings from the report could cause BP to put over $30 billion on the table to settle all of the claims against the giant oil company.
BP has said it estimates the cost of the oil spill will end up at around $42 billion, including all environmental coats, compensation,legal claims and fines. The total payment from BP- whether by court action or settlement- will be much greater. While BP has allocated $3.5 billion for Clean Water Act fines, if the oil giant is found to have been grossly negligent, which is very likely, it will be fined much more that $21 billion.
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