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ReutersOil giant BP Plc has been carefully playing the public relations game by saying it bore responsibility for the costs of the clean up of the oil that was shooting out of the damaged well a mile below the surface of the Gulf. But in recent days it has begun to point directly at driller Transocean Ltd as the main culprit.
BP has also sent a letter to its drilling contractors, including Transocean, to verify the condition of their blowout protectors -- a valve fitted onto the wellhead that is designed to prevent catastrophic surges of oil and gas.
If the BOP was defective, that could drag its maker, Cameron International Corp, into the fray. Investors have already punished Cameron, knocking its stock down 20 percent since April 26.
Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP has responsibility to pay for clean up of the spill that could run into the billions of dollars, as well as up to $75 million liability for economic damages, according to Alfred Kuffler, a partner at law firm Montgomery McCracken in Philadelphia and an expert in maritime pollution law.
"The responsible party has very limited defenses," he said of the law, which was created in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64578H20100506
Halliburton is mentioned in the article