Faulty safety device 'may have caused oil rig explosion'

A KEY safety device known as a blowout preventer that was used in the ill-fated BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico had a hydraulic leak and other problems that probably stopped it from working as designed, investigators said yesterday.

They also said documents from BP and others indicated confusion over whether poor pipe integrity had allowed methane gas to leak into the well hours before an explosion last month that killed 11 workers and blew the well open.

Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said BP had informed his House committee that at some point when the well was being closed with cement, an influx of methane entered the wellhead, indicating that cementing the well had not produced needed pipe integrity.

Mr Waxman, opening a hearing into the 20 April tragedy, said while "we have far more questions than answers" it appeared clear there were problems with the blowout preventers before the accident and confusion almost up to the time of the explosion over the success of the cementing process.

The committee said there were at least "four significant problems with the blowout preventer" used on the drill rig.

Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak said a 2001 report by Transocean, which made the device, indicated there could be as many as 260 failure possibilities.

Meanwhile, in the Gulf, crews lowered a new containment box to the sea floor in preparation for the latest bid to funnel spewing oil to a waiting tanker.