Tag: Deepwater Horizon

100,000 individual claims against BP and Transocean Ltd The legal impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster continue to reverberate throughout the maritime community, most recently in the form of a lengthy court order issued in the multi-district litigation involving persons affected by the explosion, fire, and sinking of the rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast in April 2010.The order resolved a variety of preliminary and procedural issues raised in the over 100,000 individual claims. The claims are against BP, as well as Transocean Ltd., the Switzerland-based owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, the Houston-based Halliburton Co., which was responsible for cementing services, and Cameron International Corp, which provided blowout prevention equipment. These companies sought to dismiss all claims brought pursuant to either general maritime law or state law and leave only claims arising under the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 ("OPA") in the litigation.First, the court ruled that admiralty jurisdiction is present because the alleged tortious conduct of the defendants occurred upon navigable waters of the Gulf of Mexico, disrupted maritime commerce, and the operations of the vessel bore a substantial relationship to traditional maritime activity. The term "vessel" is broadly construed ...

Concerning the DeepWater Horizon tragedy

Stemming from last year's rig explosion and massive Gulf oil spill Federal regulators on Wednesday cited oil company BP PLC and two other companies - Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton - for alleged safety and environmental violations stemming from last year's rig explosion and massive Gulf oil spill.The companies have 60 days to appeal the citations issued by the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.The bureau says the alleged regulatory violations could result in civil penalties once the appeal period has ended.These initial citations are the product of a federal government probe of the Deepwater Horizon blast, which killed 11 workers and hastened the nation's worst offshore oil spill."To ensure the safe and environmentally responsible conduct of offshore operations, companies that violate federal regulations must be held accountable," BSEE Director Michael R. Bromwich said in a statement. "The joint investigation clearly revealed the violation of numerous federal regulations designed to protect the integrity of offshore operations."One of the citations accuses well owner BP, rig owner Transocean and cement contractor Halliburton of failing to operate in a "safe and workmanlike manner." Another says the companies "failed to take necessary precautions to keep the well under control at all times."A report ...

A team of experts viewed the video footage taken by an ROV - no indication for leakage The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday the wreckage of Transocean Ltd.'s (RIG) Deepwater Horizon rig, which sank last year, isn't leaking oil and is not the source of oil sheens seen recently in the Gulf of Mexico.A Coast Guard spokeswoman said a team of experts that viewed the video footage taken by an ROV agreed that nothing shown in the feed "provided any indication that there was release of oil from the riser, the fuel tanks or any other debris at the wreckage site."Furthermore, there was no oil product either on the surface or subsurface that could be sampled," the spokeswoman said in a statement.The Coast Guard said last week that a series of oil sheens--basically a thin carpet of petroleum floating on the surface of water--spotted in the Gulf in recent months indicate the possibility of a release from the riser pipe or other debris from Transocean's rig, now on the ocean floor after the April 2010 explosion that killed 11 people.The Coast Guard recently said that BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) doomed Macondo well wasn't the source of the sheens.Source: The Wall ...

Possible oil release from riser pipe or other debris The U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port for Morgan City, La., issued a Notice of Federal Interest to Transocean Holdings, LLC, Tuesday.A series of sheen sightings in the area of Mississippi Canyon block 252 indicate the possibility of a release from the riser pipe or other debris on the ocean floor from the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon incident. Recent ROV video footage of the capped Macondo well has shown no evidence of a release from the well.An NOFI puts a potential responsible party on notice and, under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the responsible party may be financially accountable for debris removal costs and damages resulting from the pollution incident. Federal removal actions will be limited to monitoring progress of the responsible party's actions and providing guidance as necessary."This is part of the process we take whenever there is an oil sighting that cannot be immediately attributed to a specific source. We will actively work with Transocean to discuss options to determine whether or not the wreckage is the cause," said Capt. Jonathan Burton, commanding officer of Marine Safety Unit Morgan City.Failure or refusal of the responsible party ...

BP estimates the cost of the oil spill will end up at around $42 billion Findings of the second major investigation by the U.S. government into the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, may press BP into putting over $30 billion on the table to quickly settle its outstanding legal headaches.The report, released on last Wednesday, was even more damning of BP's behavior than the Presidential panel's findings, which were issued in January and February. Both reports also highlighted mistakes made by BP's contractors, driller Transocean and cement specialist Halliburton.The investigations have not left London-based BP eager to face the Department of Justice or civil claimants in court."We would like everything settled as soon as we can, otherwise you have lingering reputation issues and investor uncertainty," one insider said after the latest report.BP declined to comment on its legal strategy.Companies often drag out litigation, as payments in the future have less value than payments now.Exxon Mobil fought claims related to the 1989 Valdez spill for almost 20 years, confident it could beat down the massive sums sought by, and initially awarded to, its opponents. In the end, it was largely successful.But BP's case is not seen to be as strong. ...

New safety measures include heightened drilling safety standards The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced that the bureau has completed the first unannounced spill drill to test the new requirements of sub-sea containment capabilities for deepwater wells. Led by BOEMRE, the table-top drill, which took place last week, was a joint exercise with the U.S. Coast Guard, the State of Louisiana, and Petrobras America, Inc. The preliminary results of the drill were positive; a final evaluation will follow when analysis of all documentation is completed."We are using many diverse methods, techniques and tools to ensure that oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf are being conducted in the safest and most environmentally-responsible manner," said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich. "Testing an operator's ability to activate its sub-sea containment resources is one very important tool. The Spill Drill Program can help us validate that operators are appropriate trained in effective containment deployment. It is a natural extension of our enhanced safety and environmental regulations and standards put in place following the Deepwater Horizon tragedy."The Unannounced Spill Drill Program, initiated by the then-Minerals Management Service in 1989, tests an operator's ability to notify the appropriate entities ...

The black smoke that rose from the explosion pumped more than 1 million pounds of black carbon During the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, an estimated one of every 20 barrels of spilled oil was deliberately burned off to reduce the size of surface oil slicks and minimize impacts of oil on sensitive shoreline ecosystems and marine life. In response to the spill, NOAA quickly redirected its WP-3D research aircraft to survey the atmosphere above the spill site in June. During a flight through one of the black plumes, scientists used sophisticated instrumentation on board, including NOAA's single-particle soot photometer, to characterize individual black carbon particles.The black smoke that rose from the water's surface during the controlled burns pumped more than 1 million pounds of black carbon (soot) pollution into the atmosphere, according to a new study published last week by researchers at NOAA and its Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) in Boulder, Colo.This amount is roughly equal to the total black carbon emissions normally released by all ships that travel the Gulf of Mexico during a 9-week period, scientists noted.Black carbon, whose primary component is often called soot, is known to degrade air quality and ...

Federal investigators released their final report on the causes of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

BP bears ultimate responsibility for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history BP bears ultimate responsibility for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a key government panel said Wednesday in a report that assigns more blame to the company than other investigations and could hurt its effort to fend off criminal charges and billions of dollars in penalties.The report concluded that BP violated federal regulations, ignored crucial warnings, was inattentive to safety and made bad decisions during the cementing of the well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico.Eleven rig workers were killed in the April 2010 explosion, and some 200 million gallons of crude spewed from the bottom of the sea.The investigation was conducted by a team from the two main agencies responsible for drilling and safety in federal waters: the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement.In the report, other companies shared some of the blame. Rig owner Transocean was accused of being deficient in preventing or limiting the disaster, in part by bypassing alarms and automatic shutdown systems. Halliburton, the contractor responsible for mixing and testing the cement, was faulted as well.But BP, as the designated operator of the ...