Oil Watchdog

BP’s unsafe culture at its Texas refinery "terrified"  the primary U.S. government organization investigating the 2005 explosion that was the worst U.S. industrial accident in decades, the group’s chairman said Monday.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will release its report on the the disaster at  the Texas City refinery on Tuesday.  The blast killed 15 and injured 180.  A report by by a committee chaired by  former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker already has found dangerous conditions at all five of BP’s U.S. refineries and recommended overhauling safety procedures across the U.S. refining sector.

"As the investigation unfolded, we were absolutely terrified that such a culture could exist at BP," said CSB Chairman Carolyn Merritt in a speech to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association conference in San Antonio.

Not to worry says BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell:  "We are addressing the safety culture issues accross BP, as we have been doing since the accident in 2005."

That statement seems to be in keeping with BP’s apparent strategy since the explosion as outlined by Damian Reece, financial editor of the UK’s Telegraph:  "We fouled up, we accept blame, but we are now putting things right was the company’s frank stance. What BP does not accept is that safety lapses can be linked to cost-cutting. Nor, says the company, should any individuals carry the blame for the disaster."

Looks like BP needs a reality check.  Reece puts it this way:  "The Chemical Safety Board looks certain to reject the first point, and may well contest the second."

Indeed, like the Baker Report, the CSB is expected to  detail how budget cuts and cost-control pressures contributed to the blasts. Both reports found that BP continued to issue budgetary challenges even as the Texas City refinery was looking into problems with outdated equipment and concerns by local managers that more needed to be spent to avoid risking an incident.