Tag: Deepwater Horizon

Coast Guard approves plan for ROV reinspection of the Deepwater Horizon wreckage

BP Agrees to Pay a Record $4 Billion in Criminal Fines and Penalties BP Agrees to Pay a Record $4 Billion in Criminal Fines and Penalties Two Highest-Ranking BP Supervisors on Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Charged with Manslaughter and Former Senior BP Executive Charged with Obstruction of Congress BP Exploration and Production Inc. (BP) has agreed to plead guilty to felony manslaughter, environmental crimes and obstruction of Congress and pay a record $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties for its conduct leading to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 people and caused the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today. The 14-count information, filed today in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, charges BP with 11 counts of felony manslaughter, one count of felony obstruction of Congress, and violations of the Clean Water and Migratory Bird Treaty Acts.BP has signed a guilty plea agreement with the government, also filed today, admitting to its criminal conduct. As part of its guilty plea, BP has agreed, subject to the Court's approval, to pay $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties - the largest criminal resolution in United States history."The $4 billion ...

Research for the dispersed oil and chemical dispersants used during oil spills

Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Trustees Call for Public Input on Next Round of Gulf Restoration

Additional Research Needed, Particularly on Subsurface and Arctic Applications The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on oil dispersants. It found that progress has been made regarding dispersants, but that additional research is necessary, particularly on subsurface and Arctic applications. It also recommends that interagency coordination be improved.On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire onboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history, releasing approximately 206 million gallons of oil into the Gulf over a period of nearly 3 months. When an oil spill occurs in coastal waters of the United States, responders have several options for managing the environmental impacts of the spill, including the use of chemical dispersants. Dispersants do not reduce the total amount of oil entering the environment;rather, they help break down oil into small droplets that can more easily mix into the water below the surface, increasing biodegradation rates and potentially decreasing the impact of spilled oil on the shoreline. However, because chemical dispersants promote the movement of oil below the surface, their use exposes the underwater environment and the ocean floor to more of the spilled oil, where it may also ...

New stdy shows that there may be cause for optimism The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill temporarily worsened existing human-made problems in Louisiana's salt marshes such as erosion, but there may be cause for optimism, according to a new study.A study appearing online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found the 2010 spill killed off salt marsh plants 15 to 30 feet from the shoreline and this plant die off resulted in a more-than-doubled rate of erosion along the marsh edge and subsequent permanent marsh habitat loss. Vegetation farther from shore was relatively untouched by the incoming oil."Louisiana is already losing about a football field worth of wetlands every hour, and that was before the spill," said Brian Silliman, a University of Florida biologist and lead author of the study. "When grasses die from heavy oiling, their roots, that hold the marsh sediment together, also often die. By killing grasses on the marsh shoreline, the spill pushed erosion rates on the marsh edge to more than double what they were before. Because Louisiana was already experiencing significant erosive marsh loss due to the channelization of the Mississippi, this is a big example of how multiple human stressors ...

More than $150 million into promotions for the region recover The Gulf Coast is a hot destination again two years after the massive BP Plc oil spill made the region a tourist dead zone, with the petroleum giant pumping more than $150 million into promotions to help the region recover.In New Orleans, about 150 miles northeast of where BP's well blew up on April 20, 2010, the period since more than 4 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico has seen a frenzy of tourism efforts."Tourism doesn't happen on its own, it takes marketing dollars, particularly if you're battling an image crisis like the oil spill," New Orleans convention and visitor bureau spokeswoman Kelly Schultz said.A chunk of the $15 million BP initially sent to Louisiana in June 2010 funded emergency advertising to quell misperceptions that New Orleans was laden with oil, and Schultz says it worked. Hotel tax collections in the third quarter of 2010 jumped 33 percent from year-earlier figuresSince then, BP has sent more than $150 million to Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi to aid tourism, and will shell out close to $30 million more by the end of 2013. Another $82 million was ...

Gulf of Mexico oil spill case The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether BP executives lied to Congress about how much oil leaked in the company's 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the investigation.According to the Journal, prosecutors are looking into statements the company made to members of Congress at a closed-door briefing of members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee by officials from BP, Halliburton Co. and Transocean Ltd.Dave Nagel, the executive vice president of BP America, and David Rainey, the company's former head of Gulf of Mexico exploration, were involved in the briefing, the Journal said.The Journal also said the Justice Department had investigated whether BP engineers tried to keep information about the actual size of the leak from the government.The April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers and triggered the largest U.S. offshore oil spill from the ruptured Macondo well, in which BP held a 65 percent stake.Transocean owned the rig, and Halliburton provided cementing services. About 4.1 million barrels of oil were spilled and not cleaned up, the U.S. government has estimated.The Justice Department and BP could not ...

So far the U.S. government has brought criminal charges only against one BP employee Transocean Ltd. (RIG, RIGN.VX) expects more indictments to issue from the U.S. Department of Justice's criminal investigation on the Deepwater Horizon incident, targeting Transocean, Halliburton Co. (HAL) and BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) employees, a Transocean executive said Tuesday.So far the U.S. government has brought criminal charges only against one BP employee."We fully expect that ourselves and BP and Halliburton and other employees will be indicted," said Greg Cauthen, Transocean's interim Chief Financial Officer, during a broadcast presentation to investors. Cauthen said he didn't know what charges the U.S. government would bring, but "it's something we take very seriously." Transocean is well prepared to defend itself in court, although it's also open to a fair settlement, Cauthen said.Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded and sank in April 2010 while working for BP in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.Cauthen also said that Transocean, which has seen its profits squeezed by downtime related to equipment overhauls mandated by regulation that followed the Deepwater Horizon blast, is working to have that downtime accounted for in its contracts with oil producers."We are negotiating improved contractual terms," Cauthen said, including ...

A former BP engineer was arrested on charges of intentionally destroying evidence The US justice department has filed the first criminal charges linked to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.A former BP engineer was arrested on charges of intentionally destroying evidence.Kurt Mix of Katy, Texas, faces two counts of obstruction of justice.He is accused of trying to delete text messages between himself and a supervisor, in October 2010, containing details about how attempts to cap the leaking well were going.In a sworn affidavit, FBI special agent Barbara O'Donnell said Mr Mix had "deleted numerous electronic records relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster response, including records concerning the amount of oil potentially flowing from the well, after being repeatedly informed of his obligation to maintain such records".Mr Mix, 50, was involved in some of BP's attempts to cap the well, including the unsuccessful Top Kill efforts in May 2010.Prosecutors say he deleted messages that indicated Top Kill was failing at a time when BP officials were saying publicly that it was broadly proceeding according to plan.Mr Mix resigned from BP earlier in 2012.In a statement, BP said it "had clear policies requiring preservation of evidence in this case and has undertaken substantial ...