The Rig Alarm System Partly Disabled at the Time of Blast
According to the latest oil industry news it has been revealed that an alarm system was partially shut down the day the ill-fated oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and setting off the massive spill. Transocean owned the rig, which was being leased by BP PLC. BP is responsible for cleaning up the millions of gallons of oil that have seeped into the Gulf. Technician Mike Williams told the investigative panel that the alarm system was turned on to monitor for fire, explosive gas and toxic gas but that its sound and light alarms had been disabled. He also added that he had asked before about the settings and was told the company didn't want a false alarm waking people at night. This shocking oil news also revealed that if the system had been fully active, an alarm likely would have sounded before the explosion, which happened on the night of April 20 which could have prevented such a disastrous accident.