WASHINGTON (Kyodo) U.S. lawmakers on Thursday criticized MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, a unit of Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., for its unwillingness to bear part of the damages that BP PLC pledged to pay for the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
"You haven't paid anything and you haven't even put any money aside," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said at a Senate panel.
McCain argued that MOEX and Anadarko, another stakeholder in the gulf oil field operated by BP, are deemed as "responsible parties" under federal law and they are obliged to pay the cleanup costs and economic damages.
Naoki Ishii, head of MOEX, and James Hackett, president of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., both told the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management of the Senate Committee on Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security that BP is responsible for the payout and they haven't set aside any funds.
"BP in this case, (has) responsibility for all operational aspects of the project, including selecting and managing contractors . . . stopping the flow of oil in the event of a blowout, and otherwise responding to oil spills and managing the payment of claims that might arise in connection therewith," Ishii said.