LONDON - AN OIL platform in Azerbaijan operated by BP suffered a well blowout and a huge gas leak around a year and a half before the Gulf of Mexico spill, leaked US diplomatic cables revealed on Thursday.
The British energy giant was lucky it managed to evacuate its 212 workers safely after the incident, which led to two fields being shut and output being dramatically cut, according to the cables released by website WikiLeaks.
The news came as the United States filed a lawsuit against BP and eight other companies for billions of dollars in damages over the devastating Gulf oil spill, the worst in US history.
In the Azerbaijan incident, BP suffered the blowout in September 2008, as well as the gas leak which the firm acknowledged at the time, according to the cables, revealed in Britain's Guardian newspaper.
'Due to the blowout of a gas-injection well there was 'a lot of mud' on the platform, which BP would analyse to help find the cause of the blow out and the gas leak,' said one of the US dispatches. Another cable revealed that the company had a narrow escape after the gas did not catch fire.
'Given the explosive potential, BP was quite fortunate to have been able to evacuate everyone safely and to prevent any gas ignition,' said the cable. 'BP's then head of Azebaijan Bill Schrader said although the story hadn't caught the press's attention, it had the full focus of the government of Azerbaijan, which was losing 'US$40-US$50 million (S$52.6-S$65.8 million) each day'.' -- AFP
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