Leo Lindner, who worked as a mud engineer on Deepwater Horizon and lost several workmates in the tragedy, says the well blowout reflected how industry put “profit before people” and a failing on the part of regulators.“The oil industry is so absolutely powerful that regulators don’t actually regulate, they facilitate these companies,” he says.“And when regulators constantly defer to the oil companies, then the risks increase.
The catastrophe contributed to a period of slower growth in offshore drilling — a factor later compounded by the growth of shale and the 2014 price crash.“Everybody became super cautious, in particular in the Gulf of Mexico,” says TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné, highlighting the $60bn in different penalties BP was forced to pay.
At the same time, equipment has been stripped back to the essentials, with a single production train and no redundant backups.“In the decision making around Vito, it was: take it all back down to bare bones,” says Colette Hirstius, head of Shell’s Gulf of Mexico operations.
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