Oil Spill Disasters

Gulf oil spill report blames industry and regulators

New Scientist |

In Brief...

A sorry catalogue of technical, safety and regulatory failures all contributed to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to an interim independent report commissioned by the US Department of the Interior and published today.. The oil spill began on 20 April when an uncontrolled release of oil and gas from an underwater well caused an explosion that engulfed the Deepwater Horizon rig, killing 11 crewmen on board. Near miss One incident that is emblematic of the problems occurred on 8 March, a month before the accident, when BP discovered that drilling fluid had leaked into rocks 5000 metres below the sea floor instead of returning to the surface via a pipe. It says these occurred within BP, its contractors and the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the government agency responsible for issuing drilling permits.. For instance, Deepwater Horizon employees received mostly on-the-job training and short courses in well control instead of long-term, cohesive training..

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