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Washington (AFP) Nov 8, 2010 A high-level commission said Monday it found no evidence that companies put profit over safety when operating the oil well that ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico in April, sparking a massive oil spill. "To date, we have not seen a single instance where a human being made a conscious decision to favor dollars over safety," National Oil Spill Commission chief counsel Fred Bartlit said at the start of a two-day hearing into what caused the oil rig to explode. "There's been a lot said about it, this is one of the most important issues, but we have not found a situation where we can say men had a choice between safety and dollars and put their money on dollars. We have not seen it," Bartlit said at the commission's first hearing. Around a dozen companies were involved in different aspects of the rig and undersea well which led to the worst maritime oil spill in US history, but BP, Halliburton and Transocean were the three biggest players, said Bartlit. BP leased the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and operated the Macondo well, more than a mile beneath the surface; Halliburton developed and provided the cement used to prevent oil and gas leaking into the riser connecting the well to the rig, which could trigger an explosion; and Transocean provided the moveable, ship-like rig. All three have given the commission, which has been probing the disaster for around six months, "unprecedented cooperation," Bartlit said. Last month, the commission set up by President Barack Obama just weeks after the disaster said BP and oil services company Halliburton knew before the April 20 disaster that the cement mix they planned to pump into the well to prevent oil and gas leaks was faulty. But they went ahead regardless, and the unstable cement that Halliburton poured into BP's Macondo well was fingered by the commission in preliminary findings as one of the key causes of the accident, in which 11 workers died when a massive explosion rocked the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig. Monday's hearing was the first by the commission, which is expected to give its "tentative views" later Monday on what caused the blowout of the well on the sea floor. The seven-member commission has a deadline of January 11 next year to deliver a final report to Obama outlining the root causes of the disaster and advise on steps to be taken to prevent another one.
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Blackouts trigger diesel shortage in China: state mediaBeijing (AFP) Nov 8, 2010 Power outages imposed on factories to help China meet its energy efficiency targets have led to diesel shortages in several cities as plants are forced to use generators, state media said Monday. More than 2,000 privately owned petrol stations in southern China have shut down due to a lack of diesel, the China Daily reported, citing a petroleum industry body. Long lines of cars and "sold ... read more |
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