A White House panel has released a damning report on the BP oil spill, blaming cost-cutting for contributing to the disaster.
In April last year, an explosion on board the rig killed 11 people and spilled nearly 780 million litres of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
In the 48-page report, the presidential commission said the oil giant put time and money ahead of safety measures to prevent the accident.
It said BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure safety on board the Deepwater Horizon rig.
The spill, declared the worst environmental disaster in US history, damaged hundreds of kilometres of environmentally sensitive coastline before it was capped in July.
In its investigation, the panel found mistakes and “failures to appreciate risk” compromised safeguards “until the blow-out was inevitable and, at the very end, uncontrollable”.
The commission says a similar disaster could occur again unless industry reforms are implemented.
