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According to cables released by Wikileaks, oil conglomerate BP lost one of its deepwater oil drilling platforms in Azerbaijan to an explosion similar to the Deepwater Horizon blast that triggered the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The explosion cost Azerbaijan over 500,000 barrels of oil at a cost ranging from $40-50 million per day for months as BP attempted to quietly clean the spill in the Caspian Sea.
Bill Schraeder, who was then the head of BP’s operation in Azerbaijan, said that the company may “never know” exactly what the cause of the spill was in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshi Field. BP executives blamed a “bad cement job,” much like the “bad cement job” that led to the Deepwater Horizon blast.
The cables further revealed that BP pressured Botas, a Turkish pipeline company, to “rush-finish” a job that would connect the Azerbaijan oil reserves to Turkey through the Caucusus Mountains.
Under imperialism, transnational corporations like BP willingly circumvent safety regulations and all other considerations in the course of production in order to reap maximum profits.
Click the links below to read the full cables released by WikiLeaks on this topic.
