Texas Maritime Lawyers

Texas maritime lawyers react to a former Deepwater Horizon worker’s claims that BP failed to repair problems with a blowout preventer before the April 20 explosion.

Drilling managers on the Deepwater Horizon likely acted recklessly if they knew one of the control pods for the blowout preventer on the drilling rig was faulty and made no efforts to repair it, Texas maritime lawyer Kurt Arnold says.

“We take very seriously the need to maintain safety equipment designed to protect oil rig workers and our Gulf coast,” said Arnold, a partner in Arnold & Itkin LLP, a Houston personal injury law firm. “The latest allegations paint an even worse picture of likely gross negligence or willful misconduct before the explosion that caused the deaths of 11 workers and led to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf that ranks as the nation’s worst,” Arnold said.

In news reports, Tyrone Benton, who worked for a subcontractor on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, said he noticed one of the two control pods for the blowout preventer on the Deepwater Horizon was leaking fluid weeks before the April 20 explosion and notified BP and Transocean, the rig operator.

Benton told an interviewer with the BBC that the faulty control pod on the blowout preventer was shut down and the operators switched to using a second one. According to The New York Times, on at least three occasions, BP records indicated the blowout preventer was leaking fluid, which the manufacturer of the device has said limits its ability to function properly and seal a well.

To fix the leak, Benton said, the companies would have had to stop production, bring the blowout preventer up and repair it. The problems with the blowout preventer weren’t fixed, Benton said.

“It appears BP made a number of decisions to cut corners on safety throughout the project and made the Deepwater Horizon more vulnerable to a blowout,” said Jason Itkin, a partner in Arnold & Itkin, which concentrates on maritime and admiralty law.

“This catastrophe is large enough that there is enough blame to go around. Unfortunately, oil rig workers and the residents of the Gulf coast have paid the price,” Itkin said.

Deepwater Horizon, a massive oil rig owned by Swiss company Transocean Ltd., and leased to BP, was drilling about 52 miles off the Louisiana coast in 5,000 feet of water when a deadly explosion occurred. BP has said Transocean’s blowout preventer failed to work properly. Transocean said the blowout preventer had undergone regular testing.