BP told congressional investigators on Tuesday that pressure tests on a drill pipe showed a fundamental mistake hours before the deadly explosion.
With a BP well spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico for a fifth week and President Barack Obama under pressure to act, legal experts say it is only a matter of time before his administration begins a criminal investigation into the disaster.
US President Barack Obama was dispatching two Cabinet secretaries to the fouled Gulf Coast on Monday to keep pressure on energy giant BP.
US President Barack Obama on Saturday blamed the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill on "a breakdown of responsibility" at energy giant BP.
Anger, skepticism and accusations of lying washed over energy giant BP on Friday as it desperately pursued efforts to contain a month-old leak.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be in the political spotlight in Washington on Tuesday, as energy giant BP scrambles to contain the spill.
BP engineers desperately explored options on Sunday to control oil gushing from a ruptured well deep under the Gulf of Mexico.
BP has suffered a setback in an attempt to contain oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico with a metal dome when crystallised gas filled the structure.
For fishermen whose livelihoods are threatened by the oil leak, the offer of jobs by energy giant BP to help clean up the spill
Royal Dutch Shell spilled nearly 14 000 tonnes of crude oil into the creeks of the Niger Delta last year, the company has announced.
The oil gushing unchecked from an undersea well in the Gulf of Mexico could permanently scar coastal lands and bring down some energy companies.
Tony Hayward meets United States politicians and regulators as criticism of oil giant’s reaction to well blow-out mounts.
High winds and rough seas hampered efforts on Saturday to prevent an oil slick from reaching US shores and wreaking enormous environmental damage.
An oil slick from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to reach a wildlife reserve at the mouth of the Mississippi River on Thursday.