Isra-Mart srl : BP hits Gulf partners with multibillion dollar lawsuits

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Isra-Mart srl news:

BP yesterday marked the anniversary of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico by launching legal action against three of its partners involved with the ill-fated rig.

The oil giant filed a series of lawsuits targeting rig owner Transocean, Cameron International, the company that provided the blowout preventer that failed to stem the oil leak following the explosion, and Halliburton, the engineering giant that carried out the cement work on the blown-out Macondo well.
Filing papers in a federal court in New Orleans, BP confirmed it was seeking damages of at least $40bn from Transocean, alleging that safety systems on the rig that the company was responsible for failed.

A separate case against Cameron alleges that the blow out preventer provided by the company to the Deepwater Horizon rig was "unreasonably dangerous", and as such the company should cover some or all of the resulting costs incurred by BP, which are currently estimated at $40.9bn.

The third suit against Halliburton claims that the company was guilty of "improper conduct, errors and omissions, including fraud and concealment", which either caused or contributed to the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Each of the companies targeted in the suits have consistently alleged that the bulk of the blame for the accident lies with BP.

In a statement, Transocean said BP's lawsuit was "desperate", "specious" and "unconscionable", adding that the crisis was largely a result of "cost-saving decisions" taken by BP.

The legal action, which was launched just ahead of a deadline for parties to file claims against each other, is the latest twist in a long-running legal saga that has seen several of BP's former partners launch counter-suits against the company.

The cases are expected to proceed in parallel to federal legal action against the companies involved that is scheduled to take place next year in an attempt to apportion blame for the crisis and finalise the level of liabilities faced.

Analysts have said they expect the warring partners to eventually reach a settlement that is likely to see some sharing of the resulting costs.