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December 19th, 2011:

Lessons of the Deepwater Horizon

A version of this editorial appeared in print on December 19, 2011, on page A28 of the New York edition

The latest investigative report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, released Wednesday, is an important reminder of industry’s past carelessness and a summons to vigilance in the future. It could not have been more timely, coming just as the Interior Department was concluding its first auction of new drilling leases in the gulf since the spill.

The report was prepared by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council. It concluded — as had an earlier study by a presidential commission — that the explosion resulted from a series of poor decisions by BP and others, including a major miscalculation involving the ability of the well to withstand sudden increases in pressure. The study criticized both the industry and federal regulators for “misplaced trust” in the ability of blowout preventers to seal off wells in an emergency, and called for industry to redesign these devices to make them more reliable in the future. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell gets off on a technicality after U.S. jury finds Shell committed fraud

By John Donovan

Printed below is a Texas Supreme Court judgement dated 16 December 2011 overturning, on a technicality, a jury finding that Shell Oil Company knowingly committed royalty payment fraud. Texas Supreme Court Judges have taken the view that the plaintiff family should have discovered the fraud. They concluded that the “alleged” fraud “could” have been discovered by the family through the exercise of reasonable diligence. The reversal appears to disregard the decision of the jury that Shell deliberately committed fraud. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.