"BP Spill Report Hints at Legal Defense"

"BP spent months this summer trying to contain the gusher of oil  on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Now the company is trying to contain the legal and financial fallout from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, and on Wednesday it released the results of an internal investigation that mostly pointed fingers at other companies.

Conducted by the company’s safety chief, Mark Bly, and a team of about 50 made up mostly of BP employees, the inquiry was initiated almost immediately after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 and spilled almost five million barrels of oil into the ocean.

The 193-page report  is part mea culpa, part public relations exercise, but mostly a preview of BP’s legal argument as it prepares to defend itself against possible criminal or civil charges, federal penalties and hundreds of pending lawsuits.

The report deflects attention from BP and onto its contractors, especially Transocean, which owned the rig, and Halliburton, which performed cement jobs on the well. It also focuses less on decisions that BP made in designing and drilling the well than on what rig workers, from Transocean and Halliburton, did in the hours leading up to the blowout."

Ian Urbina reports for the New York Times September 8, 2010.

SEE ALSO:

"In Its Report on the Gulf Oil Spill, Bp Spreads the Blame" (Washington Post)

"Regret, Apology Not Part of BP's Oil Spill Report" (AP)

"Transocean, Halliburton Blast BP Report on Cause of Blowout, Oil Spill"

"The BP Report Is Out, But What About Its Methodology?" (Wall St. Journal)

"Ed Markey Swipes at Internal BP Report" (Politico)

"BP Report on Well Disaster Faults Mechanical, Human Failures" (Los Angeles Times)

"BP Internal Investigation Into Gulf Oil Spill Mostly Points Finger at Others" (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

"Halliburton Says Errors in BP Report" (Barrons)

"BP Says Transocean, Halliburton Have to Share Blame for Gulf Rig Explosion" (Bloomberg)

"BP Oil Spill Report: the Deepwater Horizon Blame Game" (Guardian)

"BP Report Pins Most of Blame on Others" (Wall St. Journal)

"Analysts: BP Report Supports Case, Buoys Investors" (AP)

"BP Report Shares Blame For Rig Explosion"(NPR)

"Backlash Against BP Spill Report" (UK Press Association)