Offshore staff
NEW ORLEANS – Investigation team participants have just released added official reports regarding the Macondo incident in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)/U.S. Coast Guard Joint Investigation Team (JIT) released its final investigative report. Volume I of the report covers the US Coast Guard areas of investigation and Volume II covers the BOEMRE jurisdiction.
Volume I includes findings on the explosions on the Deepwater Horizon; the resulting fire; evacuations; the flooding and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon; and the safety systems of the MODU and its owner, Transocean. It also presents the Coast Guard's Final Action Memo result of the JIT's work.
Volume II details evidence developed during the investigation and concludes that BP, Transocean, and Halliburton violated a number of federal offshore safety regulations. Volume II also includes recommendations for the continued improvement of the safety of offshore operations.
The Commandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Robert Papp’s report reached conclusions that might remove much of Transocean’s liability. It also said the Deepwater Horizon’s captain was operating under a Marshall Islands permit rather than a USCG license, and recommended no administrative action be taken against the captain’s license. The Coast Guard report differs from initial investigative results in many of its conclusions.
Papp’s report also called for the USCG to reassess license and training requirements MODUs. He particularly mentioned the assessment of classes in crowd control and crisis management as well as new assessment of USCG regulations about dynamically positioned vessels.
09/15/2011
