British Petroleum reaches felony plea agreement with US government
Yesterday the US Justice Department filed a criminal complaint against British Petroleum (BP), the managers of the Deepwater Horizon, the facility that’s explosion was responsible for the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2011. The company has agreed to pay $4.5 billion as part of a plea agreement to settle charges of manslaughter, obstruction and securities charges. An indictment, also part of the plea agreement, might send three employees to prison for decades. In the complaint, BP leaders Donald Vidrine and Robert Kaluza are singled out on the manslaughter charges for the failure of a pressure test on BP’s blown-out Macondo well, saying the “negligent conduct of defendant BP” through the actions of these two men “approximately caused the death of” 11 rig workers. Former BP executive David Rainey is implicated in the obstruction charges for providing the government with estimates of the amount of oil spilled that were much lower than reality, even though BP allegedly was aware of the actual amount. A former BP engineer was also charged with obstruction for allegedly deleting text messages about the spill flow rate. Deepwater Horizon rig owner Transocean and cement contractor Halliburton might also be facing criminal charges, though the Justice Department has indicated it is interested in completing the investigation into BP before probing Transocean and/or Halliburton.
