Could BP not have fired Transocean and hire someone else had they not obeyed orders? If not, why not?

A BP official expressed surprise at what happened, saying, "I didn't think an oil well would do that!"

He considers himself an oil man, and had never seen a gusher before!?

. . . paper-pushing, bean-counting desk jockey. . . .

Mike Williams said that they didn't think that the job couldn't be speeded up, but they didn't believe it would be safe and prudent to do so. The BP official was very insistent and demanding. What Williams and the others on the drilling rig were afraid might possibly happen is what did happen, but it was far worse than they anticipated.

No, the ultimate responsibility belongs to BP, and as I say above, it does not matter if it's BP, Exxon, Shell, or anyone else, they are ultimately responsible and "bigotry" has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Don Firth