Outgoing BP chief to face questions over oil spill
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Tony Hayward |
The BP's outgoing boss Tony Hayward is to be questioned by members of parliament over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April, local media reported Wednesday.
The Energy and Climate Change Committee will also question Hayward over fears the company's offshore facilities in Britain are at risk from a similar disaster and will consider whether offshore oil safety rules need to be changed.
It will be his first public appearance in Britain since an explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 people.
It follows a fiery session of the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee in June, when he was accused of ignoring safety warnings, attempting to shirk responsibility and presiding over "astonishing" corporate complacency.
In July, BP announced Hayward would be stepping down as chief executive on Oct. 1 to be replaced by BP managing director Bob Dudley, who was in charge of the Gulf clean-up operation. It also revealed the bill for the disaster stood at 20 billion pounds (30 billion U.S. dollars).
The Financial Times said offshore inspection records show BP did not comply with rules about regular training for offshore operators on how to respond to an oil spill.H Inspectors from the Department of Energy and Climate Change also cited BP for failing to conduct oil spill exercises adequately.
However, an internal investigation by BP into the reasons for the explosion blamed a "complex and interlinked" series of events involving mechanical failures and human judgments.
The probe, led by the company's head of safety and operations Mark Bly, found BP was partly responsible for the tragedy but also placed some blame on rig owner Transocean and cement contractor Halliburton.
Oil and gas industry leaders in Britain insisted last week there was "no case" for a moratorium on offshore drilling in deep water here in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
They told the Energy and Climate Change Committee that the regulatory regime in Britain was "very, very strong."
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