BP failed to properly plan for a blowout from its Gulf of Mexico oil well – then lied about the amount of oil flowing from it, a court has heard.
The British oil major returned to court in New Orleans today for the second phase of the trial over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 people and saw millions of barrels of oil flood into the Gulf of Mexico.
Yesterday Brian Barr, lawyer for those plaintiffs in the case – which include the US Government, the states affected by the spill and individuals and companies affected by the disaster – said the oil company had failed to prepare for the possibility of disaster.
“BP refused to spend any time or money preparing to stop a deepwater blowout at its source,” he told the court.
“BP then made the situation worse by lying about the amount of flow from the well.”
Plans to control the source of an oil leak amounted to a ‘bullet point’ in a 600-page document on how to respond to a disaster, the court was told.
BP’s lawyer Mike Brock insisted the company’s response, which saw them take 87 days to cap the oil leak, followed government requirements.
“BP had a response plan that was fully consistent with U.S. standards for spill preparedness,” Brock told the court.
“BP did not misrepresent the flow rate in a way that caused a delay in the shut in of the well. It made reasonable decisions based on what was known at each step along the way.”
The company’s opponents claimed that BP’s delays in capping the leaking well, after the failure of its original approach of pumping heavy drilling mud into the well, was part of an attempt to cover up how much oil had escaped.
But Mr Brock responded: “It defies common sense to say we would delay by two months shutting in the well because we didn’t want to say something about why top kill had failed.”
The first phase of the trial ended in April, after eight weeks of evidence about the causes of the blowout. District Judge Carl Barbier is expected to announce his findings next year, with the result of this trial phase being used determine the penalty BP will face under the Clean Water Act.
The oil giant faces a possible £11billion fine – more than five times the original amount put aside to settle the case – for its failure to deal with the disaster.
Meanwhile Judge Barbier has insisted the trial will continue as planned, even if the American government is forced to shut down public services after failing to agree a new federal funding bill.
The trial, which is expected to last for 16 days over a four week period, continues.
Recommended for you
