A White House commission investigating the Deepwater Horizon well disaster has alleged that BP and US contractor Halliburton knew that the cement mixture designed to seal BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico was unstable.
US President Barack Obama’s special commission on the disaster that killed 11 rig workers and caused the biggest oil spill in US history said that this could have contributed to the blowout.
Democratic legislator Edward Markey said: "The fact that BP and Halliburton knew this cement job could fail only solidifies their liability and responsibility for this disaster. This is like building a car when you know the brakes could fail, but you sell the cars anyway."
Legal experts agreed, saying the information could help to bolster plaintiffs' cases in the multitude of spill-related lawsuits by helping to show that BP acted with gross negligence before the spill.
"There's no question that it's important evidence," said Charlie Tebbutt, an attorney for the Centre for Biological Diversity, which has filed a lawsuit seeking $19 billion.
"It serves to confirm the previous reports of significant problems with the exploration and production of the well."
On Thursday night Halliburton issued a statement saying that it did not conduct a stability test on the final mix of cement after a last-minute change by BP added more of a certain ingredient.
Earlier statements by the company had said tests showed the cement to be stable.
The cement mix’s failure to prevent oil and gas from entering the well has been identified by BP and others as one of the causes of the accident.
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