BP has pledged to US regulators that it will improve its drilling practices in the Gulf of Mexico over and above those required by law, in a bid to improve its image in the US after last year’s disaster at the Macondo deepwater well.
The announcement was made in a letter to the director of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement Michael Bromwich.
The changes, detailed in a company statement, apply specifically to the alleged shortcomings that may have led to the accident at the Macondo well, and centre on improved blowout preventer standards and checks, and the establishment of a a new real-time drilling operations centre in Houston, Texas.
“BP’s commitment in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon incident is not only to restore the economic and environmental conditions among the affected areas of the Gulf Coast, but also to apply what we have learned to improve the way we operate,” said BP group chief executive Bob Dudley in a company statement. “We believe”
The New York Times reports that BP won two legal victories on Friday in cases related to the 2010 spill. A federal judge dismissed racketeering claims made by plaintiffs suing BP for damages over the spill.
The judge also postponed a lawsuit between BP and Anadarko Petroleum, one of its minority partners in the well, to allow for the claim to be settled by way of arbitration. The arbitration proceedings will remain confidential, and are regarded as being more advantageous to BP.
Anadarko is seeking to avoid contributing to the cost of the cleanup and compensation for the 2010 oil spill on the basis that BP was grossly negligent in operating the Macondo platform.
