BP Refuses Requests for Documents, Transocean Says (Update1)
By Jim Snyder
Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc’s “continued refusal to provide documents” is blocking efforts to determine the cause of the spill at the company’s well in the Gulf of Mexico, rig owner Transocean Ltd. said today.
BP hasn’t provided documents requested by Transocean since June 21, Steven Roberts, an attorney for the company, said in a letter dated yesterday to BP and copied to officials in the Obama administration and members of Congress. BP leased the rig that exploded on April 20 from Transocean.
Executives of London-based BP and Vernier, Switzerland- based Transocean have publicly disputed responsibilities for operations on the rig and for steps that may have contributed to its collapse, killing 11 workers and triggering the largest U.S. oil spill.
Without access to the information, “the task of fairly determining the cause and measures to improve the safety of all offshore workers cannot be completed in a manner that instills confidence in any findings,” Roberts said in the letter.
A BP spokeswoman had no immediate response to the letter.
Transocean listed outstanding requests for 16 categories of information, including details on digital pressure tests on the blowout preventer, a last line of defense against an uncontrolled spill. The device failed to seal BP’s ruptured Macondo well.
“BP has in its sole possession a significant amount of key information about the well, including real-time data collected by BP at its Houston office, documents, logs, cementing and operational reports, and seismic data that are critical to identifying the cause of the tragic loss of eleven lives and the pollution of the Gulf of Mexico,” Roberts said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Snyder in Washington at jsnyder24@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 19, 2010 11:14 EDT |
