NEW ORLEANS – A federal judge has granted BP PLC's request to have more tests performed on the critical safety device that failed to stop oil from gushing out of its well during last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is presiding over more than 350 lawsuits and thousands of claims spawned by the deadly rig explosion and oil spill, made the ruling Friday. He gave BP and other parties in the litigation until April 9 to propose protocols for another battery of tests on the rig's blowout preventer.
On Wednesday, a firm hired by the government concluded its official examination of the device by issuing a report that said it failed because of faulty design and a bent piece of pipe.
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