NEW ORLEANS — BP made a series of money-saving shortcuts and blunders that dramatically increased the danger of a destructive oil spill in a well that an engineer ominously described as a “nightmare” six days before the blowout, according to documents released Monday.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee released dozens of internal documents that outline several problems on the deep- sea rig in the days and weeks before the April 20 blast.
Investigators found that BP was badly behind schedule on the project and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars with each day and that it responded by cutting corners in the well design, cementing and drilling-mud efforts and the installation of key safety devices.
“Time after time, it appears that BP made decisions that increased the risk of a blowout to save the company time or expense. If this is what happened, BP’s carelessness and complacency have inflicted a heavy toll on the gulf, its inhabitants, and the workers on the rig,” wrote Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Bart Stupak of Michigan. The Associated Press
