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Magic mushrooms sit in a fridge on July 18, 2005 in London, England in a file photo.

Magic mushrooms sit in a fridge on July 18, 2005 in London, England in a file photo.

Magic mushrooms sit in a fridge on July 18, 2005 in London, England in a file photo.

A ‘SLEEPY’ motorist who hit and killed a cyclist told friends he had written off his car after hitting a deer, a court heard today.

A ‘SLEEPY’ motorist who hit and killed a cyclist told friends he had written off his car after hitting a deer, a court heard today.

A ‘SLEEPY’ motorist who hit and killed a cyclist told friends he had written off his car after hitting a deer, a court heard today.

BP releases its report into the oil spill which followed the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Follow live coverage here

1.12pm:

BP’s executive summary [pdf, opens] lists eight main issues that led to the Deepwater disaster, killing 11 people and injuring 17.

Damian Carrington has been reading the findings.

“It is, frankly speaking, quite terrifying – a catalogue of appalling shoddiness,” he writes.

Damian has simplified BP’s eight findings below:

1 – The cement that was supposed to stop the oil and gas shooting up the well pipe didn’t work – the report blames the type of cement used

2 – Futher barriers at the bottom of the drill pipe failed to stop the hydrocarbons bursting into the well pipe

3 – Amazingly, a pressure test performed to see if the well was under control was accepted despite the readings showing the well was not under control

4 – With oil and gas now pouring up the well, it took 40 minutes to realise this

5 – Once it was realised, the hydrocarbons were not diverted “overboard” but brought onto the rig

6 – This meant the hydrocarbons “vented directly onto the rig” – a frightening image

7 – The fire prevention system on the rig failed. “The heating, ventilation and air conditioning system probably transferred a gas-rich mixture into the engine rooms”. That’s were it probably caught fire and destroyed the rig

8 – Key point – the blowout preventer, the ultimate failsafe failed. The fire on the rig stopped the BOP being operated, while an automated system failed in part because the BOP had flat batteries in one control pod and a faulty solenoid valve in another

12.57pm:

The Guardian has a timeline charting over four months of the oil spill clean-up, environmental impact and the impact on BP and business.

We’ve also got a comprehensive Q&A on how the spill started, how much oil was lost and why some of the many efforts to plug the well failed.

Elsewhere, the New York Times has an all singing, all dancing graphic tracking the oil spill in the Gulf.

Seen something around the web which would worth us flagging up? You can either comment below the line or get in touch on Twitter: @adamgabbatt

12.42pm:

More from Terry Macalister on BP’s efforts to share the blame:

Tony Hayward, the BP chief executive, puts part of the blame directly on to US contractor Halliburton (whose former chief executive was previous US vice president, Dick Cheney) which did the “cementing” of the Macondo well.

“To put it simply, there was a bad cement job,” said Hayward in a statement which conflicts with a previously published email from a Halliburton employee on the rig to a colleague saying the job “went well.”

BP also takes blame away from itself over the “design” of the well. “It would appear unlikely that the well design contributed to the incident,” argues Hayward.

12.37pm:

Below the line, bombed writes: “I’m curious, who hired these other companies to work with BP? Was it BP themselves or some authority overseeing the whole endeavour?”

RealPol has the answer: “BP, through the tender process usually.”

Interesting point.

12.30pm:

The Guardian’s Nick Fletcher is following the reaction in the financial world to the report. Shares in BP, which rose this morning, have risen again, he writes.

The stock market seems to like BP’s plan to share out the blame for the Gulf spillage, judging by the initial reaction.

The company’s shares – already up 6.75p at 413.55p immediately ahead of the report’s release – have made further gains now the findings are out. They currently stand at 414.95p, up 8.15p or 2%.

But the market is in a jittery mood and there is no guarantee that things will stay the same once investors have had time to digest the full report. And it is worth bearing in mind BP’s shares were at 650p ahead of the disaster on April 20.

12.23pm:

Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s head of environment, writes:

As well as very clearly seeking to spread the blame, the end of BP’s press release notes that its report is based on “information available to the investigating team”.

Once again, it turns the focus on its contractors: “Additional relevant information may be forthcoming, for example, when Halliburton’s samples of the cement used in the well are released for testing and when the rig’s blow-out preventer [owned and operated by Transocean] is fully examined now that it has been recovered from the sea-bed.”

12.17pm:

Terry Macalister, our energy editor, says a first glance at the BP report confirms expectations that the company would argue that “multiple failures” by a number of different parties were to blame for the fatal blowout.

The report points the finger at Transocean (the rig operator) and Halliburton (the well contractor) as being as much to blame for the disaster as BP. The oil company always claimed to have been unfairly singled out by US politicians and now claims to have the proof that others should be held to account also.

12.12pm:

Some links on how to find information on the report:

• You can read BP’s press release regarding the report here.

• BP has also produced a 29min video presenting its findings.

• You can download the executive summary of the report: [pdf, opens]

• Or download the report in full: [pdf, opens]

12.03pm:

The report has been published on BP’s website.

“The investigation found that no single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy,” is BP’s findings in short.

“Rather, a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties led to the explosion and fire which killed 11 people and caused widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.”

Much more to follow.

11.57am:

My colleague Graeme Wearden writes this morning that shares in BP rose by around 1% this morning to 412p ahead of the report’s publication.

City analysts Evolution Securities said the investigation could shift culpability towards Transocean – which operated the Deepwater Horizon rig on BP’s behalf – and “in particular the integrity of the blowout preventer which should have acted as the ultimate fail safe”, Graeme reports.

BP also received good news from Fitch this morning, which raised its credit rating on BP to A, from BBB, with a stable outlook.

Fitch said that it was now more confident that the well was capped permanently.

“The “A” rating also reflects both the improved visibility of potential liability scenarios the company could still face and substantial payments that BP has made to date in building up liquidity to address potential financial payments,” Fitch added.

11.50am:

BP’s report into the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is published at noon today. The company is expected to admit it is partly to blame for the disaster, but will also claim that other companies must accept some responsibility.

The explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April killed 11 workers and began a devastating spill which leaked over 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico – the largest spill in American history. The leak took three months, and a huge variety of different attempts (see interactive), to seal before BP finally closed it off on 15 July.

The ruptured oil well is still not permanently sealed, with the company announcing last week it will be two weeks before the leak is closed off for good. The leak was only allowed to occur when the blow-out preventer – the last line of defence against an out of control well – failed to activate after the explosion above the surface.

Today’s report will examine why it failed, following an internal investigation into the events leading up to the explosion nearly five months ago. In July it was revealed that the blow-out preventer was modified in China in 2005.

Our team of experts will be poring over the BP report as soon as it is released, with key sections being reported and analysed here. We’ll also have the latest reaction from the global markets and from other companies potentially implicated in the spill.

Follow the latest here and offer us your response below.

The bombers and fighters flew across the English Channel by the hundreds, London in their sights, intent on forcing Britain out of the war, and Hitler’s way.

The bombers and fighters flew across the English Channel by the hundreds, London in their sights, intent on forcing Britain out of the war, and Hitler’s way.

The bombers and fighters flew across the English Channel by the hundreds, London in their sights, intent on forcing Britain out of the war, and Hitler’s way.