20 April 2005
BP faces accusations in court from BTC pipeline contractors that it covered up a safety flaw on a strategic energy project, which if uncorrected could cause an environmental disaster in the Caspian region.
(Source: The Sunday Times, April 17, 2005)
BP faces accusations in court from pipeline contractors that it covered up a safety flaw on a strategic energy project, the BTC pipeline project, which if uncorrected could cause an environmental disaster in the Caspian region.
A recent scientific report by Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCIC) suggests the BTC pipeline will corrode, and is therefore, in effect, uninsurable. The report is commissioned by CCIC as part of the multi-million-pound claim it is bringing against BP. The British construction giant Amec is also suing the oil company. The claim centers on who is responsible for delays following the cracking of a vital anti-corrosion coating used to protect 60,000 pipeline joints. The cracks occurred within months of construction starting in August 2003.
BP blames the contractors for poor application of the coating. CCIC and Amec claim BP forced them to use a coating with no track record, despite warnings from its own experts that the pipeline would rapidly corrode. Unless the claim is settled soon the case is heading for an international arbitration tribunal in London. BP has known about the coating failure since last year when Derek Mortimore, a pipeline consultant, fired from the BTC project for speaking out, alerted him to the financial risks.
A BP spokesman said: “The pipeline construction, operation, inspection and testing procedures are carried out rigorously to the highest industry standards. We are happy with the pipeline coating and as far as we are concerned (its) integrity is not in question.