Steven Newman, Chief Executive of deepwater drilling firm Transocean scored a big victory today, both for his company and most certainly on a personal level as U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled gross negligence on the part of BP was to blame for the blowout on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, the deaths of 11 rig workers and the subsequent massive oil spill in … [Read more...]
Halliburton’s $1.1 Billion Spill Agreement Avoids Bigger Payouts
By David Wethe and Margaret Cronin Fisk Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Halliburton Co.’s agreement to pay $1.1 billion to settle most of the lawsuits over its role in the biggest U.S. offshore oil spill helps it avoid billions more in potential penalties down the road. The oilfield services company, accused of doing defective work on BP Plc’s Macondo well before it exploded in … [Read more...]
BP Faces Uncertainty on Third Anniversary of Deepwater Horizon Disaster
By Margaret Cronin Fisk April 19 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc faces the third anniversary of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico tomorrow with no sure knowledge of how much more it will have to pay government and private plaintiffs over the disaster. Last year BP agreed to pay an estimated $8.5 billion to settle lawsuits by most plaintiffs as well as $4 billion to the … [Read more...]
BP Profit Push ‘Root Cause’ of Gulf Oil Spill, Witness Says
By Jef Feeley and Allen Johnson Jr. (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc’s push to maximize profits and cut costs at the Macondo well was a “root cause” of the explosion that led to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a safety expert who studied the disaster said. BP executives pressured supervisors of the Deepwater Horizon rig to speed up drilling operations and hold … [Read more...]
BP Heads to Trial With Early Victory
By Margaret Cronin Fisk (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc heads into a sprawling trial Monday over who is liable for the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history with an early victory, after a judge ruled some documents related to its criminal conviction can’t be used. In November, BP reached a deal with the U.S. Justice Department, agreeing to pay $4 billion to resolve the … [Read more...]