BP files suits against Transocean, Cameron

NEW ORLEANS, April 21 (UPI) -- British oil giant BP has gone to court to recoup losses from last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill from Transocean and Cameron International, court papers show.

BP is targeting the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, Transocean, saying the platform was "unseaworthy," and that "every single safety system and device and well control procedure … failed, resulting in casualty," The Financial Times reported Thursday.

An explosion on the platform killed 11 workers and led to an underwater release of oil that took months to contain. The disaster released 4.9 million barrels of oil into gulf waters and cost BP $58.6 billion, the company said in a court filing.

BP also filed papers in a federal court in New Orleans to recoup losses from Cameron International, which made the blow-out preventer that failed to contain the spill.

BP said it simply did not work.

"The blow-out preventer failed to work and perform the function it was designed and manufactured to perform, i.e., to secure the well," papers filed in court said.

BP said, "The blow-out preventer was flawed in design, and alternative designs existed that did not have these flaws."

The lawsuits were filed one year to the day after the explosion on the oil platform.

In a statement, Transocean called the lawsuit frivolous.

"This suit is specious and unconscionable," Transocean said, calling it a "desperate bid," to back out of an agreement to take on full responsibility for environmental accidents.