BP shifts some blame for Gulf of Mexico oil spill to several parties

　Failures by several parties led to the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, British energy group BP concluded in the results of an internal inquiry published Wednesday, accepting some of the blame.

　　"No single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy. Rather, a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties led to the explosion and fire that killed 11 people and caused widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year," BP said.

　　BP said decisions made by "multiple companies and work teams," including itself, contributed to the accident that arose from "a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering designs" and communication breakdowns.

　　The company has already rejected any suggestion that it was guilty of gross negligence over the spill that spewed an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, but it faces potential multi-billion-dollar lawsuits.

　　The report looked into the causes of the explosion at a BP-operated oil rig in April that killed 11 workers and caused the worst spill in US history.

　　The four-month probe, led by BP's head of safety and operations, Mark Bly, is viewed as key to how BP defends itself against legal proceedings involving the spill.

　　The leaking Macondo well has been secured, but the disaster is being examined in a string of court cases and probes, including a criminal investigation being carried out by the US Depart-ment of Justice.

　　BP has already spent $8 billion trying to contain the disaster and has forecast that it will eventually cost the group more than $32.2 billion after cleanup costs and compensation are taken into account.

Source: Global Times