Macondo

The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on Thursday issued final regulations covering blowout preventer (BOP) systems and well control, which officials said would reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens.

The Department of Interior on Friday finalized revamped rules covering oil and natural gas activities on the Outer Continental Shelf, revising or eliminating many of the drilling safeguards put in place following the tragic Macondo well blowout in 2010.

Landmark offshore drilling safety rules put in place following the tragic Macondo well blowout in 2010 may be rolled back by the Trump administration.

BP plc said Tuesday it plans to take a $1.7 billion charge in its fourth quarter earnings because of additional claims related to the tragic Macondo well blowout in April 2010.

Buoyed by a raft of discoveries and improved efficiencies across operations, BP plc delivered better-than-expected results for the second quarter, despite continued outlay for the 2010 Macondo well blowout.

BP plc second quarter profit was off sharply from a year ago but it increased sequentially as the major producer continued to tout “drawing a line under” Macondo well blowout costs, as well as the success of cost-cutting efforts company-wide.

BP plc agreed to pay $175 million between 2016 and 2017 to settle a class action lawsuit that sought up to $2.5 billion, which claimed the company deceived shareholders by downplaying the severity of the April 2010 Macondo well blowout. The settlement, BP said, “does not resolve other securities-related litigation in connection with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.” In 2014 U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison of the Southern District in Houston approved Multidistrict Litigation case No. 2185 (see Daily GPI,May 16, 2014). Investors that bought BP American depository shares from April 26 to May 28, 2010 had been allowed to pursue claims that BP executives’ public statements “did not reflect the magnitude of the disaster facing the company.” BP officials had said in 2010 that 1,000-5,000 b/d of oil was leaking from the Macondo well, when internal estimates suggested that the figure was 10 times higher.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., a minority partner in the doomed BP plc-operated Macondo well, said it is reviewing whether to appeal a $159.5 million penalty for violating the Clean Water Act — far less than the $1 billion-plus penalty sought by federal prosecutors.

BP plc’s agreement to settle all the major federal, state and municipal claims related to the Macondo tragedy five years ago in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico led Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday to upgrade the ratings to positive from negative.