Transocean CEO says rig workers should have done more

Transocean employees should have done more to detect signs of trouble before the company’s drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, killing 11 workers and triggering the nation’s worst offshore oil spill, the company’s chief executive testified in New Orleans today. But the Swiss-based drilling company’s own investigation of the disaster didn’t find any mistakes beyond the rig floor, Transocean Ltd. president and CEO Steven Newman maintained. His testimony came on the 14th day of a trial designed to determine the causes of BP’s well blowout and to assign fault to the companies involved. Newman says Transocean didn’t identify any “management failures” that led to the blowout. “I think we had a good system in place,” he testified. Newman says Transocean agreed in January to plead guilty to a criminal charge of violating the Clean Water Act because its rig workers on the Deepwater Horizon played a role in botching a crucial safety test before the blowout. “Do you blame the crew that night?” Transocean attorney Brad Brian asked Newman. “Do I blame the crew? Do I wish the crew would have done more? Absolutely. I am not sure that that’s the same emotional content as blame,” said Newman, later adding that BP ultimately was responsible for deciding how to perform the safety test and for determining whether it was successful. The full story on today’s courtroom action from The Associated Press can be found here.