Safety is Number One…or is it something else?

I keep a journal and most mornings I'm eager to fill that journal with things I've learned. But not lately. I'm tired. I spent the past few hours reading about the monumental oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And I'm tired of posturing by pundits and politicians of the Right wing stripe. Do they ever say anything worthwhile? Anything that might help the situation? Of course not…I remember from back in the days when the construction world was my life, assigning blame for any mishap was always priority number one. Things have not changed a bit since those days.

But, on a slightly different note, I did learn some interesting things this morning; such as the fact that most drilling rigs are licensed and treated as vessels because maritime law is much more lenient. There's a whole lot more information here…

 

Oil companies routinely categorize offshore oil rigs as ships in order to be covered by permissive rules and regulations accorded by certain nations. Oil rigs are routinely registered as ships overseas.
The laws of the Marshall Islands regulate BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The oil rig is registered as a Marshall Islands-flagged ship.

The laws of the Marshall Islands regulate BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The oil rig is registered as a Marshall Islands-flagged ship.

Huh? Why?

The answer is simple: By being a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, the Deepwater Horizon rig is subject to the safety laws and inspection standards of the Marshall Islands. Maritime treaties allow the United States to simply recognize BP's compliance with Marshall Islands' standards as adequate.

Some facts about the Deepwater Horizon oil rig:

1. Almost the size of an aircraft carrier, the rig was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea.
   
2. The rig was operated by a TransOcean, a former US company who relocated to Zug Switzerland to evade US tax laws.
   
3. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig was registered by Transocean as an ocean ship/vessel with the Marshall Islands and is a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel. Its "port of registry" is Majuro, Marshall Islands. I'll bet you a nickel that the Deepwater Horizon "ship" has never been to Majuro.
   
4. BP leases the ocean area from the US government and the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service manages the lease of US sovereign waters and seabeds.
   
5. BP leases the Deepwater Horizon oil rig from the Swiss company TransOcean.
   
6. In 2008, BP Exploration leased Deepwater Horizon from Transocean. In October 2009, the contract was extended until 2013. The lease contract was worth $544 million, a rate of $496,800 per day.
   
7. According to US laws, BP is the responsible party for the gulf coast oil gusher.
   

 

Do you know where the Marshall Islands are? Unless you're my age or older, I doubt that you have even heard of them.