First BP trial witness says company put cost cuts over safety

By Kristen Hays

NEW ORLEANS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - BP Plc fostered aculture that put cost-cutting over safety before the deadly 2010Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a noted forensic engineer said in thefirst day of testimony in the federal civil trial centered onthe disaster.

"There is ample evidence of intense pressure within thesystem to save time and money," said Bob Bea, co-founder of theCenter for Catastrophic Risk Management at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley. "With stress and pressure come sacrificesto safety."

Bea was the first witness for the plaintiffs, the U.S.Justice Department and U.S. Gulf Coast states suing well ownerBP, rig owner Transocean Ltd and well cement providerHalliburton Co.

The plaintiffs plan to call Lamar McKay, chairman andpresident of BP America, to testify as a hostile witness onceBea wraps up. McKay is a member of the London-based oilcompany's executive committee, alongside Chief Executive OfficerBob Dudley.

Bea consulted with the White House commission thatinvestigated the spill and prepared a report faulting BP for theplaintiffs in the case. He also had consulted with BP on riskmanagement prior to 2005.

He said BP cut its Gulf of Mexico costs by 22 percent from2008 to 2009 while increasing oil and gas output by 55 percent.

Bea said during questioning by Robert Cunningham, a lawyerfor the plaintiffs, that he had told BP that "money isn'teverything" and that incentives for major accident preventionshould be on equal footing with incentives for profits.

"It's a culture of every dollar counts," Bea said.

He had yet to be cross-examined by BP lawyer Mike Brock.

The April 2010 blowout caused an explosion that killed 11men, sank a rig and spewed more than 4 million barrels of crudeoil into the Gulf.

Well-known in New Orleans, the site of the trial, Bea was akey witness in litigation over failed levees when HurricaneKatrina hit in 2005, flooding much of the city and leaving morethan 1,800 people dead.

The nonjury trial before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier issplit into three phases, with the first focused on allocatingblame among the defendants and the severity of their negligence.