Moure-Eraso, chair of the US Chemical Safety Board, has praised a court for ordering Transocean to supply documents as part of an investigation into the Macondo drilling facility explosion in 2010.
The United States Court of Appeal for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, Louisiana, refused to grant Transocean Deepwater Drilling a stay of a recent federal district court order.
Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon, had been ordered to release documents subpoenaed by the CSB as part of their investigation into the 2010 Macondo incident in the Gulf of Mexico.
In an official statement, Mr Eraso said: ”These documents are important for establishing facts that no other agency has investigated in detail, such as the role of human and organizational factors in the tragedy that took eleven workers’ lives.
“I applaud the decision which will now enable us to move this important investigation forward. Today’s news of a blowout and fire at a gas well platform in the Gulf only underscores the ongoing hazards faced by offshore workers, and the need to ensure that the worldwide energy industry has the fullest possible understanding of the causes of the 2010 disaster.”
In its ruling, the Louisiana court said the CSB’s investigation was of “unquestionable significance to workplace and public safety” and that delaying the subpoenaed documents’ release would unnecessarily impede proceedings.
Mr Eraso said it was “high time” for Transocean to “cooperate fully and openly with CSB investigators”.
“Every other company involved in this tragic accident has cooperated with the CSB investigation. Transocean must now play its part to ensure that a similar tragedy does not occur again, and accordingly I expect Transocean’s full cooperation going forward.”
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, burned and sank in the Gulf April 20-22, 2010.
