Blame shared over Gulf oil spill

14 September 2011 Last updated at 21:24 GMT Adam Brookes says the findings of the report are wide ranging

A US federal report has blamed the worst oil spill in US history on "key mis-steps", poor leadership and a poor cement job by BP and its contractors.

BP was "ultimately responsible" for rig safety, with Transocean responsible for safe operations and worker safety.

BP tried to save time and money at the cost of safety, and Transocean operated normally despite the hazards, it said.

"Multiple causes, involving multiple parties, including Transocean and Halliburton" were to blame, BP said.

The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast killed 11 workers and spilled four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

It took three months and highly complex undersea engineering effort to plug the well and stop the oil flow.

New recommendations

The report, issued by the the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and the US Coast Guard Joint Investigation Team, echoes previous reports in concluding that multiple factors contributed to the disaster.

Continue reading the main story Rajesh Mirchandani BBC News, Washington

This report may be the latest of several into last year's Gulf of Mexico spill, but this one represents the US government's findings and is likely to be taken seriously by US politicians.

It seems to lay much of the blame at the feet of BP. But other companies involved in operations at the well - particularly Transocean and Halliburton - are also criticised.

It is interesting that, in its response to the report, BP agrees that the Deepwater Horizon accident was the result of "multiple causes, involving multiple parties". Another reading of the report might infer a less equal distribution of blame.

Still, these are the three companies whose names we have heard most closely linked with the disaster in previous investigations and this report may add weight to some of the several court cases that could follow. The companies are all involved in complex litigation with each other over responsibility. Potential damages could run into the billions of dollars and final settlement will undoubtedly take many years.

By way of comparison, damages claims in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 (which was the biggest in US history until the Gulf of Mexico) spent nearly 20 years in the US courts.

The explosion was "the result of poor risk management, last-minute changes to plans, failure to observe and respond to critical indicators, inadequate well control response, insufficient emergency bridge response training by companies and individuals responsible," it said.

As well as labelling BP "ultimately responsible" for safety, the report blames Halliburton for conducting a poor cement job to seal the well that failed in the run-up to the blast.

Commissioned in April 2010, just days after the explosion at the rig, the report also offers recommendations to improve the way the offshore drilling industry is regulated.

A number of other reports have been published in the wake of the oil spill.

The Oil Spill Commission, set up by the White House, was asked to look into the causes of the disaster. BP also published its own report investigating the same issues.

Correspondents say the latest report may also offer a hint at the direction of any legal ramifications for BP and others, and could lead to more charges against them by the US government.

In December 2010, the US Department of Justice sued BP and eight other companies for billions of dollars in damages from the spill. The lawsuit asked that the companies be held "liable without limitation".

The report is also likely to be combed over by corporate legal teams working on lawsuits the Deepwater Horizon companies have brought against each other.

In April 2011, a year after the blow-out at the Macondo well, BP sued Transocean for $40bn (£25.3bn) in damages - the start of a long legal battle to spread the costs of the clean-up that, until then, had been covered by BP alone.

Transocean spokesman Brian Kennedy told the BBC that while the company agreed with some of the report's conclusions, they took "strong exception to criticisms of the Horizon drill crew, nine of whom perished fighting to save their fellow crewmembers and the rig, for the actions they took in the face of such an unprecedented emergency".

Halliburton and BP have also filed several lawsuits against each other - over the issue of the faulty cement seal, defamation and the concealment of vital information that could have prevented the disaster.

View the original article here

Read More

Blame shared over Gulf oil spill

14 September 2011 Last updated at 21:24 GMT Adam Brookes says the findings of the report are wide ranging

A US federal report has blamed the worst oil spill in US history on "key mis-steps", poor leadership and a poor cement job by BP and its contractors.

BP was "ultimately responsible" for rig safety, with Transocean responsible for safe operations and worker safety.

BP tried to save time and money at the cost of safety, and Transocean operated normally despite the hazards, it said.

"Multiple causes, involving multiple parties, including Transocean and Halliburton" were to blame, BP said.

The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast killed 11 workers and spilled four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

It took three months and highly complex undersea engineering effort to plug the well and stop the oil flow.

New recommendations

The report, issued by the the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and the US Coast Guard Joint Investigation Team, echoes previous reports in concluding that multiple factors contributed to the disaster.

Continue reading the main story Rajesh Mirchandani BBC News, Washington

This report may be the latest of several into last year's Gulf of Mexico spill, but this one represents the US government's findings and is likely to be taken seriously by US politicians.

It seems to lay much of the blame at the feet of BP. But other companies involved in operations at the well - particularly Transocean and Halliburton - are also criticised.

It is interesting that, in its response to the report, BP agrees that the Deepwater Horizon accident was the result of "multiple causes, involving multiple parties". Another reading of the report might infer a less equal distribution of blame.

Still, these are the three companies whose names we have heard most closely linked with the disaster in previous investigations and this report may add weight to some of the several court cases that could follow. The companies are all involved in complex litigation with each other over responsibility. Potential damages could run into the billions of dollars and final settlement will undoubtedly take many years.

By way of comparison, damages claims in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 (which was the biggest in US history until the Gulf of Mexico) spent nearly 20 years in the US courts.

The explosion was "the result of poor risk management, last-minute changes to plans, failure to observe and respond to critical indicators, inadequate well control response, insufficient emergency bridge response training by companies and individuals responsible," it said.

As well as labelling BP "ultimately responsible" for safety, the report blames Halliburton for conducting a poor cement job to seal the well that failed in the run-up to the blast.

Commissioned in April 2010, just days after the explosion at the rig, the report also offers recommendations to improve the way the offshore drilling industry is regulated.

A number of other reports have been published in the wake of the oil spill.

The Oil Spill Commission, set up by the White House, was asked to look into the causes of the disaster. BP also published its own report investigating the same issues.

Correspondents say the latest report may also offer a hint at the direction of any legal ramifications for BP and others, and could lead to more charges against them by the US government.

In December 2010, the US Department of Justice sued BP and eight other companies for billions of dollars in damages from the spill. The lawsuit asked that the companies be held "liable without limitation".

The report is also likely to be combed over by corporate legal teams working on lawsuits the Deepwater Horizon companies have brought against each other.

In April 2011, a year after the blow-out at the Macondo well, BP sued Transocean for $40bn (£25.3bn) in damages - the start of a long legal battle to spread the costs of the clean-up that, until then, had been covered by BP alone.

Transocean spokesman Brian Kennedy told the BBC that while the company agreed with some of the report's conclusions, they took "strong exception to criticisms of the Horizon drill crew, nine of whom perished fighting to save their fellow crewmembers and the rig, for the actions they took in the face of such an unprecedented emergency".

Halliburton and BP have also filed several lawsuits against each other - over the issue of the faulty cement seal, defamation and the concealment of vital information that could have prevented the disaster.

View the original article here

Read More

Blame shared over Gulf oil spill

14 September 2011 Last updated at 21:24 GMT Adam Brookes says the findings of the report are wide ranging

A US federal report has blamed the worst oil spill in US history on "key mis-steps", poor leadership and a poor cement job by BP and its contractors.

BP was "ultimately responsible" for rig safety, with Transocean responsible for safe operations and worker safety.

BP tried to save time and money at the cost of safety, and Transocean operated normally despite the hazards, it said.

"Multiple causes, involving multiple parties, including Transocean and Halliburton" were to blame, BP said.

The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast killed 11 workers and spilled four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

It took three months and highly complex undersea engineering effort to plug the well and stop the oil flow.

New recommendations

The report, issued by the the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and the US Coast Guard Joint Investigation Team, echoes previous reports in concluding that multiple factors contributed to the disaster.

Continue reading the main story Rajesh Mirchandani BBC News, Washington

This report may be the latest of several into last year's Gulf of Mexico spill, but this one represents the US government's findings and is likely to be taken seriously by US politicians.

It seems to lay much of the blame at the feet of BP. But other companies involved in operations at the well - particularly Transocean and Halliburton - are also criticised.

It is interesting that, in its response to the report, BP agrees that the Deepwater Horizon accident was the result of "multiple causes, involving multiple parties". Another reading of the report might infer a less equal distribution of blame.

Still, these are the three companies whose names we have heard most closely linked with the disaster in previous investigations and this report may add weight to some of the several court cases that could follow. The companies are all involved in complex litigation with each other over responsibility. Potential damages could run into the billions of dollars and final settlement will undoubtedly take many years.

By way of comparison, damages claims in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 (which was the biggest in US history until the Gulf of Mexico) spent nearly 20 years in the US courts.

The explosion was "the result of poor risk management, last-minute changes to plans, failure to observe and respond to critical indicators, inadequate well control response, insufficient emergency bridge response training by companies and individuals responsible," it said.

As well as labelling BP "ultimately responsible" for safety, the report blames Halliburton for conducting a poor cement job to seal the well that failed in the run-up to the blast.

Commissioned in April 2010, just days after the explosion at the rig, the report also offers recommendations to improve the way the offshore drilling industry is regulated.

A number of other reports have been published in the wake of the oil spill.

The Oil Spill Commission, set up by the White House, was asked to look into the causes of the disaster. BP also published its own report investigating the same issues.

Correspondents say the latest report may also offer a hint at the direction of any legal ramifications for BP and others, and could lead to more charges against them by the US government.

In December 2010, the US Department of Justice sued BP and eight other companies for billions of dollars in damages from the spill. The lawsuit asked that the companies be held "liable without limitation".

The report is also likely to be combed over by corporate legal teams working on lawsuits the Deepwater Horizon companies have brought against each other.

In April 2011, a year after the blow-out at the Macondo well, BP sued Transocean for $40bn (£25.3bn) in damages - the start of a long legal battle to spread the costs of the clean-up that, until then, had been covered by BP alone.

Transocean spokesman Brian Kennedy told the BBC that while the company agreed with some of the report's conclusions, they took "strong exception to criticisms of the Horizon drill crew, nine of whom perished fighting to save their fellow crewmembers and the rig, for the actions they took in the face of such an unprecedented emergency".

Halliburton and BP have also filed several lawsuits against each other - over the issue of the faulty cement seal, defamation and the concealment of vital information that could have prevented the disaster.

View the original article here

Read More

150 million photos now shared on Instagram

Instagram

Photo No. 150 million -- as snapped and Instagrammed by "@janefot."

Remember those Polaroids your grandma pulled out of envelopes or albums to show you way back when? Instagram brings that tinted, old-timey, Polaroid look and square dimensions to photos taken with your iPhone, giving users a choice of filters to apply to their photos. And since the free app launched last October, more than 150 million photos have been shared on Instagram's social network/photo-sharing site.

Since last fall, "we've seen more than 7 million people from all around the world share photos on our platform," Instagram said on its blog.

Instagram users are posting photos at the rate of 15 per second. And a look at some of those photos, shared on the blog, shows why: With the app's fun filters, photos become instant art or fodder for nouveau nostalgia.

Here's the first photo ever posted to Instagram, by app founder Kevin Systrom:

Instagram

Photos that have been Instagrammed can be posted not only to the app's site, but to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursqaure, Posterous, and can easily be emailed.

Instagram's small team of four employees is "constantly amazed by the range of photos" that are shared.

Instagram

San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their World Series championship.

"People use Instagram to snap photos of everyday moments with friends and family and also to document significant personal moments, like weddings and honeymoons," the company wrote on the blog.

"There are Instagram photos from major events like the World Series and the Grammys, and some Instagram photos have even made the national news. Artists and celebrities have begun to give fans a unique look into their lives through photos, while brands like Burberry have started to realize the power of communicating with their followers through images. Really, the app is as much a venue to a photo-sharing social network as it is about putting fun filters to your photos."

That's for sure. While some may worry about "oversharing" on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram represents the best king of sharing — although users don't have to post their photos if they don't want to.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

View the original article here

Read More

150 million photos now shared on Instagram

Instagram

Photo No. 150 million -- as snapped and Instagrammed by "@janefot."

Remember those Polaroids your grandma pulled out of envelopes or albums to show you way back when? Instagram brings that tinted, old-timey, Polaroid look and square dimensions to photos taken with your iPhone, giving users a choice of filters to apply to their photos. And since the free app launched last October, more than 150 million photos have been shared on Instagram's social network/photo-sharing site.

Since last fall, "we've seen more than 7 million people from all around the world share photos on our platform," Instagram said on its blog.

Instagram users are posting photos at the rate of 15 per second. And a look at some of those photos, shared on the blog, shows why: With the app's fun filters, photos become instant art or fodder for nouveau nostalgia.

Here's the first photo ever posted to Instagram, by app founder Kevin Systrom:

Instagram

Photos that have been Instagrammed can be posted not only to the app's site, but to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursqaure, Posterous, and can easily be emailed.

Instagram's small team of four employees is "constantly amazed by the range of photos" that are shared.

Instagram

San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their World Series championship.

"People use Instagram to snap photos of everyday moments with friends and family and also to document significant personal moments, like weddings and honeymoons," the company wrote on the blog.

"There are Instagram photos from major events like the World Series and the Grammys, and some Instagram photos have even made the national news. Artists and celebrities have begun to give fans a unique look into their lives through photos, while brands like Burberry have started to realize the power of communicating with their followers through images. Really, the app is as much a venue to a photo-sharing social network as it is about putting fun filters to your photos."

That's for sure. While some may worry about "oversharing" on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram represents the best king of sharing — although users don't have to post their photos if they don't want to.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

View the original article here

Read More

150 million photos now shared on Instagram

Instagram

Photo No. 150 million -- as snapped and Instagrammed by "@janefot."

Remember those Polaroids your grandma pulled out of envelopes or albums to show you way back when? Instagram brings that tinted, old-timey, Polaroid look and square dimensions to photos taken with your iPhone, giving users a choice of filters to apply to their photos. And since the free app launched last October, more than 150 million photos have been shared on Instagram's social network/photo-sharing site.

Since last fall, "we've seen more than 7 million people from all around the world share photos on our platform," Instagram said on its blog.

Instagram users are posting photos at the rate of 15 per second. And a look at some of those photos, shared on the blog, shows why: With the app's fun filters, photos become instant art or fodder for nouveau nostalgia.

Here's the first photo ever posted to Instagram, by app founder Kevin Systrom:

Instagram

Photos that have been Instagrammed can be posted not only to the app's site, but to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursqaure, Posterous, and can easily be emailed.

Instagram's small team of four employees is "constantly amazed by the range of photos" that are shared.

Instagram

San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their World Series championship.

"People use Instagram to snap photos of everyday moments with friends and family and also to document significant personal moments, like weddings and honeymoons," the company wrote on the blog.

"There are Instagram photos from major events like the World Series and the Grammys, and some Instagram photos have even made the national news. Artists and celebrities have begun to give fans a unique look into their lives through photos, while brands like Burberry have started to realize the power of communicating with their followers through images. Really, the app is as much a venue to a photo-sharing social network as it is about putting fun filters to your photos."

That's for sure. While some may worry about "oversharing" on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram represents the best king of sharing — although users don't have to post their photos if they don't want to.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

View the original article here

Read More