Big oil CEOs say BP well safety was subpar

The chief executives of several major oil companies told a House panel Tuesday that BP’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico well had design features that they would not have used.

“It is not a well that we would have drilled with that mechanical set-up,” said Marvin Odum, president of Royal Dutch Shell’s U.S. operations.

Chevron CEO John Watson said that “practices we would not have put in place were employed here” and cited features including the well’s casing.

And here’s ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson: “A number of design standards that I would consider to be the industry norm were not followed.”

The comments came during a hearing of a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel that’s reviewing industry safety and energy policy in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The remarks reveal the extent to which the companies, under increasing scrutiny from Congress, are distancing themselves from BP over the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The CEO's comments came under questioning from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).