Transocean fires back at 'self-serving' BP spill report

Transocean Ltd. has quickly fired back at BP’s internal probe of the Gulf of Mexico spill, calling it a “self-serving” report.

Transocean — the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that blew up in the Gulf April 20 — said in a statement that BP, which ran the rig, is not admitting enough blame in findings released Wednesday morning.

Transocean disputes BP’s claim that the oil giant’s well design was not at the root of the accident.

“This is a self-serving report that attempts to conceal the critical factor that set the stage for the Macondo incident: BP’s fatally flawed well design,” according to an e-mailed statement from a company spokesman. “In both its design and construction, BP made a series of cost-saving decisions that increased risk — in some cases, severely.”

According to Transocean, this included neglecting to run a cement bond log, which documents an evaluation of the integrity of cement work performed on an oil well, and failing to conduct a complete “bottoms up” circulation of the well to ensure the quality of the cement seal.

BP in its report points the finger at both Transocean and Halliburton, which the company contracted to do the cement work.

“Improved engineering rigor, cement testing and communication of risk by Halliburton could have identified the low probability of the cement to achieve zonal isolation,” the BP report states.

Halliburton released a statement charging that BP's report includes "a number of substantial omissions and inaccuracies."

BP’s 193-page report Tuesday does point the finger at itself but emphasizes that a number of failures by Transocean and Halliburton also led to the explosion of the rig, which killed 11 workers and created the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

Transocean is also conducting its own investigation but has accused BP of withholding documents needed to complete that review.

“Transocean's investigation is ongoing, and will be concluded when all of the evidence is in, including the critical information the company has requested of BP but has yet to receive," according to Transocean’s statement.

Environmental groups are also going after BP’s analysis.

“BP’s internal investigation doesn’t pass the smell test,” Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Rather than accept the blame and financial consequences for its disaster, BP is continuing to point fingers at everyone it can. This report is more concerned with calming BP’s shareholders than taking responsibility for its actions.”

BP’s report may have little impact on a joint investigation by the Justice Department and Coast Guard, in addition to those on Capitol Hill. The company’s report, in fact, may simply be a first look at its upcoming legal defense in the face of a civil and criminal probe.

“BP is well-aware that hundreds of lawsuits and tens of billions of dollars in fines rest on determining who is to blame and whether they were criminally negligent,” Suckling said. "This report bends over backwards to spread the blame around, conceal BP’s financial interest in cutting corners and avoid any hint of criminal liability.”

This post was updated at 1:30 p.m.