BP Praises Transocean Settlement, Fingers Halliburton

In a brief statement, BP hails Transocean's admission of criminal conduct today in a $1.4 billion settlement stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, saying it proves the "accident resulted from multiple causes, involving multiple parties."
Transocean built and staffed the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased by BP. The companies have been blaming each other for the disaster since the well spewed oil into the Gulf for 86 days in the spring and summer of 2010. In its 2010 internal report, BP also blamed Halliburton, which conducted the poor cementing job that contributed to the well disaster. And BP continues to blame Halliburton today:
"Unfortunately, Halliburton continues to deny its significant role in the accident, including its failure to adequately cement and monitor the well," BP's statement says.
Even in its settlement, Transocean continues to qualify its guilt by blaming BP. According to an EPA press release:
In agreeing to plead guilty, Transocean Deepwater Inc. has admitted that members of its crew onboard the Deepwater Horizon, acting at the direction of BP’s “Well Site Leaders” or “company men,” were negligent in failing fully to investigate clear indications that the Macondo well was not secure and that oil and gas were flowing into the well.
Of the $1.4 billion that Transocean today agreed to pay, nearly $1 billion will go toward environmental and economic remediation in the Gulf of Mexico region. Which prompted BP to say:
"Transocean is finally starting, more than two-and-a-half years after the accident, to do its part for the Gulf Coast."
In November BP agreed to pay $4.5 billion to settle similar civil and criminal claims stemming from the disaster, but it has yet to settle with the government on violations of the Clean Water Act. Today's Transocean settlement includes the largest CWA settlement by far—$1 billion.
“We are responsible not for the accident, but we are responsible for the oil and dealing with it and cleaning it up,” BP CEO Tony Hayward told ABC News on May 3, 2010.
In its 2011 Annual Report, Transocean contended that it was "contractually indemnified against all claims stemming from the environmental and economic impacts of the hydrocarbons spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the Macondo well after the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon.”
That report also celebrated 2010 as Transocean's "best year in safety."