Just in case you forgot, the Gulf of Mexico was a mess last year.  There was oil spewing deep below the water’s surface and it couldn’t be stopped.  Many businesses along the gulf took hits, and lost thousands if not millions of dollars.  The immediate question was who is to blame.

Here are the players:

• BP – they owned the oil well that was clouding up the beautiful gulf waters
• Transocean – they owned the drilling rig that exploded and sank
• Halliburton – they were responsible for plugging the well with cement when a methane bubble set off the explosion

Allow me to add one more to the list of parties involved – the government.  More specifically, the U.S. Minerals Management Agency.  Previously, this agency was responsible for regulating the safety around offshore drilling.  They have since relinquished that right to the oil companies themselves.  In 2005, the agency inspected 1,292 wells.  In 2009, the oil companies reported having inspected 760 wells.  The Gulf well that exploded last year was not one of them .

So we have the owner, the maintenance team, and remedy team, along with the delegate.  Who do you think could have prevented this past incident, and possibly prevent future occurrences.

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