he Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana’s tip, in this April 21, 2010 file photo. A high-stakes trial to assign blame and help figure out exactly how much more BP and other companies should pay for the spill began Monday.THE GULF OIL SPILLThe spill began after a well in the Gulf of Mexico owned by London-based oil giant BP PLC blew out on April 20, 2010, triggering an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and spewed what the federal government estimates at about 172 million gallons of oil. Much of it spilled into the Gulf.THE LATEST TRIALThe trial is divided into two phases: The first will determine what caused the blowout and divide the blame among BP, Transocean and Halliburton. The second will look at what efforts the companies made to stop the spill. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will rule on how much more money the companies owe.
NEW ORLEANS – BP bears most of the blame for the disastrous 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico because it cut corners and put profits ahead of safety, a U.S. Justice Department attorney charged Monday at the opening of a high-stakes trial that could result in the oil company and its partners being forced to pay billions more in damages.
The London-based oil giant acknowledged it made “errors in judgment” before the deadly blowout, but it also cast blame on the owner of the drilling rig and the contractor involved in cementing the well. It denied it was grossly negligent, as the government contended.
The civil case went to trial after attempts to reach an 11th-hour settlement failed.
Eleven workers were killed when the Deepwater Horizon rig leased by the BP exploded on April 20, 2010. An estimated 172 millions of gallons of crude spilled into the Gulf over the three months that followed.