 Norwegian company DNV to probe Gulf oil spill Oslo (AFP) Oct 6, 2010 - Norwegian certification group Det norske Veritas (DNV) said Wednesday US authorities had asked it to help investigate the failed safety valve that caused the catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said it had been hired by the Joint Investigation Team of the departments of the Interior and Homeland Security "for the forensic examination of the blowout preventer." The safety valve, which measures 50 feet (nine metres) and weighs 300 tonnes, was meant to prevent uncontrolable releases of gas and thus avoid explosions at the base of offshore platforms. The massive piece of equipment was extracted from the Macondo well, where the Deepwater Horizon platform stood until it exploded on April 20, and has been taken to a secure NASA facility in Michoud, Louisiana, DNV said in a statement. The accident, the cause of which has yet to be determined, killed 11 people on the platform and released 4.9 billion barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The well has since been sealed. |
DNO said early estimates put the damages "in the range of 55 (million) to 75 million dollars." It did not name the beneficiary, but Norwegian press reported it was a Yemenite millionaire.
"Based on the preliminary calculation, the award is expected to imply additional loss of 45 (million) to 65 million dollars in the company's accounts for the third quarter of 2010," DNO said.
The announcement sent the company's shares down 1.80 percent on the Oslo stock exchange in early trading. At 0915 GMT, shares were down 1.27 percent on a market up 0.93 percent.
The small Norwegian company had already planned for provisions amounting to some 12 million dollars in its 2009 accounts in connection with the issue, examined by the London Court of International Arbitration.
"The company is in a position to fully cover the estimated range of damages from its cash reserves," it said.
According to Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv, the dispute was between DNO and Yemenite businessman Shaher Abdulhak, who was ousted from the exploitation of the Tawke oil field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
News agency NTB reported Shaher Abdulhak is the father of Farouk Abdulhak, a Yemenite man suspected of raping and strangling to death Martine Vik Magnussen, a young Norwegian woman, in London in 2008.
Abdulhak is wanted by British police and is believed to be hiding in Yemen, which does not have an extradition accord with Britain.
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