BP Exec Defends Gulf Oil Spill Report

A British Petroleum executive is defending a report on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion  in federal court in New Orleans today. Mark Bly was in charge of the company’s investigation into the explosion that killed 11 people and sent millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the fourth day of testimony.

The civil trial between several Gulf Coast states and BP, Transocean LTD and Halliburton Co. is the first phase of a process to determine the size of the Clean Water Act fines to be levied in the disaster.

A lawyer for Transocean, which owned the oil rig, asked Bly why his team’s report on the incident didn’t mention a call from a BP rig supervisor to an onshore engineer immediately before the blast.

Notes from BP investigators show the two men discussed results of a crucial safety test that was allegedly misinterpreted. The report from BP says no evidence was found that rig crew or well site leaders consulted anyone outside the team.

Later this week, the judge will hear testimony from a survivor of the rig explosion.

Meanwhile, the states involved in the lawsuit are continuing settlement talks with BP on the pollution claims stemming from the spill, sources have said.

The offshore injury lawyers at Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P., Accident & Injury Lawyers help workers injured offshore  and families of offshore workers killed in accidents.