‘Deepwater Horizon’ film ‘not an accurate portrayal’, claims BP

BP has criticised the new Deepwater Horizon film as being an inaccurate Hollywood dramatisation of the deadly oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

"The Deepwater Horizon movie is Hollywood's take on a tragic and complex accident. It is not an accurate portrayal of the events that led to the accident, our people or the character of our company," said BP senior vice-president Geoff Morrell in a statement on the British oil and gas company's website.

The film, released in Ireland on Friday, focuses on the hours before and after the explosion from a well blowout on a BP rig in April 2010, leading to the worst offshore oil disaster in US history.

Eleven workers were killed and millions of barrels of oil spewed on to the shorelines of several states for nearly three months. BP, which has had to pay more than $55 billion in clean-up costs and fines, said the film “ignores the conclusions reached by every official investigation: that the accident was the result of multiple errors made by a number of companies”.

Actor Mark Wahlberg, who plays an oil engineer who survived the disaster, said the film aimed to honour the 11 men killed in the accident. Other than BP, rig operator Transocean and services contractor Halliburton were also found to be at fault .

“Coming, as it does, six and a half years after the accident, the movie also does not reflect who we are today, the lengths we’ve gone to restore the Gulf, the work we’ve done to become safer, and the trust we’ve earned back around the world, ” BP said in the statement.

– (Reuters)