Civil engineering expert witness and UC Berkeley engineering professor Robert Bea testified October 1, 2013, that British Petroleum had not developed technology to handle a deep water blowout at the time of the Macondo massive oil spill. Dr. Bea described their policy as a “think about it when it happens plan.” Company executive James Dupree admitted that BP engineers didn’t have the equipment they needed to attack the Macondo well. New Orleans district judge Carl Barbier is considering if BP’s actions reached the level of “gross negligence.”
Expert witness Professor Bea has over 48 years of experience in engineering and management of design, construction, maintenance, operation, and decommissioning marine systems including offshore platforms, pipelines, and floating facilities.