Lacking standards to weigh costs against safety, BP and its partners made critical errors leading to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, according to a scientific panel report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. Interim findings from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council attribute the massive spill to workers' decisions to move ahead with temporary abandonment of BP's doomed Macondo well despite warning signs from a key test of well integrity. "The various failures mentioned in this report indicate the lack of a suitable approach for anticipating and managing the inherent risks, uncertainties ... associated with deepwater drilling," the report said.
Lacking standards to weigh costs against safety, BP and its partners made critical errors leading to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, according to a scientific panel report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.
Interim findings from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council attribute the massive spill to workers' decisions to move ahead with temporary abandonment of BP's doomed Macondo well despite warning signs from a key test of well integrity.
"The various failures mentioned in this report indicate the lack of a suitable approach for anticipating and managing the inherent risks, uncertainties ... associated with deepwater drilling," the report said.
Government regulators also failed to provide adequate oversight for deepwater drilling, according to the report.
Ultimately, the report said there were not enough checks on decisions involving abandoning the well and there was no standard to weigh the trade offs between costs and safety for the project.
"Many of the pivotal choices made for the drilling operation and temporary abandonment of the well were likely to result in less cost and less time relative to other options," the report said.
An April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and ruptured the undersea Macondo well, unleashing millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over the summer.
A BP worker was responsible for overseeing costs and schedules for the well, as well as issues relating to safety and well integrity, the report said.
Despite testimony that "safety was never compromised," the report said that drilling risks were not fully recognized. The panel said it will consider whether a separate system of oversight is necessary to ensure concerns about cost do not compromise safety.
