BP, 2010. - 192 p.
This is the report of an internal BP incident investigation team. The report does not represent the views of any individual or entity other than the investigation team. The investigation team has produced the report exclusively for and at the request of BP in accordance with its Terms of Reference, and any decision to release the report publicly is the responsibility of BP It has not been prepared in response to any third party investigation, inquiry or litigation.
In preparing this report, the investigation team did not evaluate evidence against legal standards, including but not limited to standards regarding causation, liability, intent and the admissibility of evidence in court or other proceedings.
This report is based on the information available to the investigation team during the investigation; availability of additional information might have led to other conclusions or altered the team s findings and conclusions.
At times, the evidence available to the investigation team was contradictory, unclear or uncorroborated. The investigation team did not seek to make credibility determinations in such cases. In evaluating the information available to it, the investigation team used its best judgment but recognizes that others could reach different conclusions or ascribe different weight to particular information.
In the course of the investigation, members of the team conducted interviews, and this report draws upon the team members' understanding of those interviews. The investigation team did not record or produce verbatim transcripts of any interviews, nor did the team ask interviewees to review or endorse the notes taken by the interview team members. There were at least two team members present during each interview and, in utilizing information gathered from interviews, the team has taken into account the presence or absence of corroborating or conflicting evidence from other sources.
The report should be read as a whole, and individual passages should be viewed in the context of the entire report. Discussion or analysis that is based, to any extent, on work carried out by third parties — for example, on laboratory or consultant reports commissioned by the investigation team (refer to the appendices of this report)—is subject to the same qualifications or limitations to which that work was subject.
Wherever appropriate, the report indicates the source or nature of the information on which analysis has been based or conclusions have been reached. Where such references would be overly repetitive or might otherwise confuse the presentation, evidentiary references have been omitted.
