In every murder investigation the weapon behind the crime is considered a vital piece of evidence. The knife or gun is considered a key link between the accused, the victim, and the crime. While the Gulf oil spill disaster has no 'smoking gun, investigators have now obtained the closest thing to it. Yesterday BP successfully removed the old blowout preventer from the Macondo behind the oil spill. The preventer will now be raised to surface and intensely scrutinized by the investigative team appointed by President Obama.
Blowout preventers are the key device that is suppose to stop exactly the kind of disaster that occurred n the Gulf. In the case of a leak the blowout preventer is suppose to activate and send sheer rams through the pipe, effectively cutting off the flow of oil at the source. When it became clear that the Macondo well was leaking, BP tried multiple times to get the blowout preventer to work. However, as all Americans now know, the device clearly did not work. The investigative team has still not found out for certain everything that caused the worst oil spill in American history, but the everyone seems to agree that the blowout preventer at least played a role.
The investigation into the blowout preventer could have tremendous ramifications for future lawsuits. If the flaw is found to be in the design or production of the blowout preventer than BP could try to excuse itself from liability by blaming the manufacturer. If the flaw is in the maintenance or operation of the blowout preventer then BP and Transocean would likely take more of the blame.
Most importantly, the investigation will likely have impact on the future production of management of blowout preventers. Whatever went wrong in this case will need to be addressed to ensure another oil spill disaster does not occur off the United States coastline. Offshore drilling, right or wrong, has become something the country relies upon. Realistically, that means that blowout preventers will be used for the forseeable future, and if another Deepwater Horizon disaster occurs the blowout preventer will be the last line of defense against another leak.
As the Gulf oil spill disaster revealed, there is little response teams can do if a blowout preventer fails. The pressure behind the oil leaks are tremendous, and working underwater makes efforts all the more challenging. After months of trying many different operations the BP oil leak was only stopped when the company installed a new cap and blowout preventer on the well. If the same scenario is to be avoided in the future, the investigative team must first figure out what went wrong with the original blowout preventer on the Macondo well.
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