WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) vice president in charge of drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico resigned over safety concerns just months before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court.
The suit said Kevin Lacy, a former Chevron official BP hired in 2007 to ” improve and standardize its drilling policies and protocols,” agreed to resign in December 2009 because he felt BP “was not adequately committed to improving its safety protocols in offshore drilling to the level of its industry peers.”
An explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and causing the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Pension funds in Ohio and New York are the lead plaintiffs in the class-action suit filed on behalf of investors in BP. They claim the company, which had a record of other safety mishaps before the spill, misled investors when it said it had adequate safety plans in place as a result of previous safety issues.
A BP spokesman declined to comment. The company is facing a host of other lawsuits and an ongoing criminal investigation by the Justice Department. It has set aside $20 billion to pay liability claims.
The 182-page suit offers evidence that the Ohio attorney general’s office said shows BP executives made “misstatements” about safety precautions that “lowered the company’s risk profile and inflated its stock.”
After the rig sunk, BP’s stock price dropped precipitously.
Lacy was not the only official to leave BP’s Gulf of Mexico operations in late 2009, according to the lawsuit.
Citing a confidential witness, the suit says an internal reorganization before the spill led to cutbacks and layoffs that “hit their height” in 2009.
Other senior engineers in the Gulf were transferred around late 2009, meaning that when the Deepwater Horizon incident occurred, four out of five BP senior drilling officials in the region “had only been in their posts for a few months” the suit said.
In Washington, the legal filing prompted Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) to renew his call for legislation that would remove a $75 million cap on liability for oil companies following a spill. Menendez said he was optimistic that he could reach a compromise with other lawmakers on the issue.
Liquid natural gas producers have been avoiding the Red Sea for much of 2024 amid continuous attacks by Houthi militants. This may now be changing as the first LNG carrier...
A US aircraft carrier strike group left the Red Sea for Europe weeks after Yemen’s Houthi rebel group said it will stop attacking vessels in the region.
China's retaliatory tariffs on the United States may cause U.S. oil exports to decline in 2025 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, after growth plateaued last year.
February 6, 2025
Total Views: 551
Sign Up Now for gCaptain Daily
We’ve got your daily industry news related to the global maritime and offshore industries.
JOIN OUR CREW
Maritime and offshore news trusted by our 108,964 members delivered daily straight to your inbox.
Your Gateway to the Maritime World!
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.