Readings on the Rig

One April night, a blowout at an offshore well led to explosions and fire aboard the drilling rig, killing eleven people and sending millions of barrels of oil into the water. Two of the oil company's top employees on the rig, the on-site supervisors who directed drilling operations, were charged. Prosecutors alleged that during a critical pressure test of the well they failed to phone onshore engineers about multiple signs that the well was not secure, failed to account for abnormal readings, accepted a nonsensical explanation for them, stopped investigating and declared the test a success. Seaman's manslaughter counts were dismissed before trial. One supervisor, a petroleum engineer with more than 35 years' experience, contested at trial a misdemeanor charge of negligently causing the oil discharge.