Tony Hayward, BP CEO, testifying before the House Energy and Commerce sub-committee investigating the gulf oil disaster, gave very little to committee members, answering most questions with: “I don’t recall” or “I have not drawn a conclusion” or “I was not involved in the decision-making process”.
In his brief opening remarks, Hayward apologized for the disaster in the gulf saying that he was “deeply sorry” and that he was shattered when he learned 11 men had died.
“It is a tragedy,” Hayward said. He said he regretted the great turmoil that the people of the gulf were experiencing and the impact on the environment.
“We are a strong company and no resources will be spared,” Hayward said.
But beyond his opening remarks, for those who might have expected Hayward to provide some answers into what went wrong leading up to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, there was disappointment.
Asked whether BP ignored warnings from its own engineers that the Maconda well was problematic, Hayward responded that he was never briefed on problems with the well and that he had no prior knowledge on its drilling conditions.
Again, when the BP CEO was asked whether the oil giant knowingly had made risky decisions to contain cost, Haywood told the committee that he was not prepared to draw conclusions until the investigations were concluded.
On questions related to the cement bond, well casing, and centralizers, and how much money and time BP would have saved, based on the decisions taken, Hayward said repeatedly, “I don’t recall.”
Members of the sub-committee were clearly frustrated by Hayward’s refusal to assist the investigative committee with direct answers. Several noted that Hayward had received a 14-page letter last week with all the questions, but yet continued to frustrate the work of the committee.
Notwithstanding BP’s utterances that safety was a top priority, according to OSHA, the oil giant has one of the worst safety records in the industry and had racked up between June 2007 and February 2010, 862 citation, of which 762 have been classified as “egregious” and “willful”.
