Stephen Bertone, chief engineer for Swiss-based Transocean Ltd, recited a litany of technical problems with the rig, which exploded on April 20 and sank two days later, causing the worst oil spill in US history.
The oil drilling rig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April had a history of maintenance problems, the rig's chief engineer told US investigators probing the BP Plc oil spill on Monday.
Stephen Bertone, chief engineer for Swiss-based Transocean Ltd, recited a litany of technical problems with the rig, which exploded on April 20 and sank two days later, killing 11 crewmen and causing the worst oil spill in US history.
The Transocean-owned rig was drilling a well a mile (1.6 km) beneath the Gulf under contract for London-based BP, Bertone's testimony could direct more attention toward Transocean's role in the accident, after much of the focus has been on BP's role.
At a hearing before a joint US panel convened by the US coast guard and the interior department's bureau of ocean energy management, regulation, and enforcement, Bertone said the rig had an "excessive" number of maintenance tasks that his staff was unable to complete.
A September 2009 audit of the rig generated a 30-page list of 390 overdue maintenance items that would require more than 3,500 hours to accomplish, BP lawyer Richard Godfrey said.
The rig was due to travel to a shipyard in 2011 for some unspecified repairs, according to Bertone.
An underwater propeller on the rig had "problems" for eight months prior to the disaster, Bertone said, and the rig had a series of partial blackouts prior to April 20.
The driller's chair, a glass-enclosed area used to control the drilling rig with joysticks -- lost power days before the explosion and its computer system had frozen up on several occasions, Bertone said.
Company officials also provided more information about what occurred on the rig after it was hit by a series of explosions the night of April 20 (the morning of April 21 GMT).
Soon after the explosion, US investigators interviewed crew members who were working aboard the rig that night. That information has been placed under seal. At Monday's hearing, Godfrey, BP's lawyer, read an excerpt of Bertone's sealed testimony.
Godfrey said Bertone told investigators that Curt Kuchta, the rig's captain, "screamed" at a crewmate for pressing a distress button on the rig's bridge, and apparently told crew to abandon an injured crewman on a gurney, saying, "Leave him."
A lawyer for Kuchta responded, saying: "What the captain does in terms of lifesaving has nothing to do with what caused this rig to explode. ... It's rather an attempt to assassinate his character."
BP's Godfrey said the actions reflected "a complete loss of command and control" aboard the rig.
Hearings before the panel were scheduled to run through Friday. But two rig officials who were expected to testify -- including the BP representative who made key decisions in the rig's final hours -- cancelled their appearances, citing medical issues.
Upcoming testimony is expected to focus on a stack of pipes and valves that was supposed to be the rig's last line of defense against a "blowout" -- a sudden discharge of oil and methane gas that surged up the well and enveloped the rig in flammable gas.
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