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BP chief says he wasn't in loop, enraging Congress

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-18 10:12
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BP chief says he wasn't in loop, enraging Congress
Oil and gas continue to leak at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in this image captured from a BP live video feed June 17, 2010. [Agencies]

Stupak, the subcommittee chairman and a former Michigan state trooper, noted that over the past five years, 26 people have died and 700 have been injured in BP accidents, including the Gulf spill, a pipeline spill in Alaska and a refinery explosion in Texas.

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Hayward argued that safety had always been his top priority and "that is why I am so devastated with this accident." When he became CEO in 2007, Hayward said he would focus "like a laser" on safety, a phrase he repeated on Thursday.

Republican Rep. John Sullivan questioned BP's commitment to safety.

BP had 760 safety violations in the past five years and paid $373 million in fines, Sullivan said. By contrast, Sunoco and ConocoPhillips each had eight safety violations and ExxonMobil just one, Sullivan said.

An estimated 73.5 million to 126 million gallons (278 million to 476 million liters) of oil has come out of the breached wellhead, whether into the water or captured.

The reservoir that feeds the well still holds about 2 billion gallons (7.5 billion liters) of oil, according to the first public estimate Hayward has given of the size of the undersea oil field.

That means the reservoir is believed to still hold 94 percent to 97 percent of its oil. At the current flow rate, it would take from two years to nearly four years for all the oil to be drained from it.

BP chief says he wasn't in loop, enraging Congress
Ships and drilling rigs surround the Discoverer Enterprise as it continues to recover oil from the Deepwater Horizon drill site in the Gulf of Mexico, in this June 15, 2010 handout photo. [Agencies]

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