Compare this (markets’ viewpoint):
Drilling contractor Transocean Ltd. and possibly the service companies were responsible for the human errors or equipment failures that may have triggered the Macondo blowout Apr. 20 in the Gulf of Mexico, but BP PLC will be the one who pays for the oil spill response and damages, said analysts at Citi Investment Research & Analysis, a division of Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
That’s because in the typical contract for oil field services, the customer accepts liability for spills or damage to the reservoir and indemnifies the contractor.
On the other hand, analysts at FBR Capital Markets & Co. in Arlington, Va., said, Based on the pieces of this puzzle we have been able to assemble so far, it appears to us as if the primary responsibility for the accident may not lie with any¦ of the service companies.
with this (oilfield professional’s viewpoint):
Zonal isolation is the principal function of a primary cementation, and BP deliberately chose not to evaluate the integrity of that isolation (possibly against the advice of cementing contractor Halliburton), by means of widely-used wireline acoustic logging methods, before commencing to prepare the Macondo well for temporary plugging and abandonment.
… In the end, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron (the BOP manufacturer) will be found neither grossly negligent nor principally responsible for this disaster — culpability will rest entirely with BP, as perpetrators of one of the most colossal and avoidable risk management failures in offshore drilling history.
If you missed it, CBS’ “60 Minutes” devoted a large part of their time on Sunday to the incident. Making allowances for bias and sensationalism, it still sounded to me that BP was the most (or least) responsible party.
I was reminded of the Apollo fire and the two Shuttle disasters that might have been avoided if people put safety ahead of the sin of the day (pride, greed, schedule, ego, or whatever).