BP Wasn't Prepared For Leak, CEO Says

HOUSTON—BP's chief said the company could have done more to prepare for a deepwater oil leak, as the British oil giant met with affected residents Thursday and embarked on fresh efforts to stem the vast slick now threatening the Gulf of Mexico shoreline.

BP PLC Chief Executive Tony Hayward has come under mounting pressure over the spill, caused after a drilling rig BP was leasing, the Deepwater Horizon, caught fire and sank last month. The accident killed 11 workers and raised fears of widespread ecological damage.

Mr. Hayward said he didn't think his job was on the line over the disaster but said "that, of course, might change."

Since the accident, the well BP was drilling has been spewing about 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the sea. BP is trying to install a dome over the leaking well with hopes of funneling a substantial portion of the oil onto a tanker above. An earlier attempt to do this with a larger containment dome failed. The smaller one will be moved over the leak in the next few days.

The Obama administration says BP is responsible for the spill and will bear the cost of the clean-up. Some officials and Gulf coast residents have slammed the company's response to the disaster as inadequate.

At a community meeting in Port Sulphur, La., on Thursday, representatives from BP and federal agencies heard residents' complaints, ranging from economic hardship to perceived ailments related to the spill.

"People are truly concerned. They're not eating or sleeping," said Kendra Arneson, wife of a fisherman left without work by the spill, in the meeting at a local church.

BP has been particularly vulnerable to criticism because among the large oil companies it is by far the biggest player in deepwater oil exploration. Some in the industry have said a company with such a strong focus on deepwater drilling should have had much better contingency plans for dealing with an underwater oil leak at this depth.

Mr. Hayward, speaking to a small group of journalists Wednesday night in Houston, admitted that the oil giant had not had the technology available to stop the leak. He also said in hindsight, it was "probably true" that BP should have done more to prepare for such an emergency.

"It's clear that we will find things we can do differently, capability that we could have available to deploy instantly, rather than be creating it as we go," he said.

BP has created a huge command center at its Houston offices, mobilizing 500 people from 160 firms across the oil industry. In one room, engineers operate underwater robots to perform tasks on the rig's failed shut-off valve, or blowout preventer, which stands on the seabed nearly a mile deep.

Mr. Hayward was speaking after two days of hearings in Congress in which BP, Transocean Ltd., the Swiss-based company that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon, and Halliburton Co., which was handling the cementing of the well, blamed each other for the disaster. Mr. Hayward declined to comment on the testimony, saying it was too early to speculate on the causes of the incident.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.