BP shouldn't shift the blame elsewhere

In an internal report British oil company BP has accused its partner companies of gross negligence which led to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But BP should not get away with laying the blame on others, the conservative daily The Times warns. "That said, BP is justified in arguing that many of the most critical mistakes were made by other companies. Halliburton built the cement and shoe-track barriers at the bottom of the well that failed to contain hydrocarbons within the reservoir. And in the decisive eight minutes before the explosion, the Transocean employees who ran the rig had to make a series of vital decisions, most of which they appear to have got wrong. But BP cannot hide behind the mistakes of others: it was BP's responsibility to scrutinise its contractors. It clearly failed to do so, while adding other errors all of its own making."

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