Transocean must provide Deepwater Horizon documents to CSB, court rules

Washington – The owner of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 has been ordered to turn over internal investigation documents to the Chemical Safety Board in a July 23 ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Transocean Deepwater Drilling argued that CSB lacks the authority to investigate the April 2010 incident, which killed 11 workers and spilled more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. While the company was appealing a ruling confirming CSB’s subpoena power, Transocean moved to prevent CSB from collecting the company’s documents regarding internal investigations into the blowout and blast.

The July 23 ruling denied Transocean’s motion for such a stay, requiring the company to hand the documents over to CSB.

In a statement, CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said the documents are needed to establish what roles human and organizational factors may have played in the tragedy. Moure-Eraso called on Transocean to assist in CSB’s efforts to discover the causes of the explosion and oil spill, and added that other companies involved in the blast have cooperated with CSB’s investigation.