A year and a half before the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico caused the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, a similar disaster occurred in Azerbaijan in a gas and oilfield in the Caspian Sea. BP kept that secret, but the story is now out thanks to Wikileaks.

As with the Deepwater Horizon, it was the blowout preventer which failed, and as in the Gulf of Mexico, non-compliance with safety regulations and failure to install mandatory safety devices appears to have been the underlying cause. Is unclear how much gas escaped, but it would be a huge amount. The leak had two gas and oil fields shut for months, with a production loss of 500,000 barrels per day as a result.

Iron grip
BP was able to hide the "incident" because there were no deaths. 212 employees were evacuated. The Azerbaijani government was aware, lost 40 to 50 million U.S. dollars in revenue per day, but kept silent. Because, according to other documents leaked, BP has an iron grip on the country.

Blackmail
Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, had threatened starting in 2006 through August 2008 to take on BP. He accused BP of stealing tens of billions in oil revenue and indicated that the company was blackmailing the government. A refusal of BP to release more gas for domestic use during a cold winter was the proverbial straw. Aliyev threatened to "open the book on BP." The Americans urged BP to resolve the matter according to the telexes. One is entitled "BP is playing a dangerous game."

Fear of a Russian invasion
But in the summer of 2008, the wrinkles were ironed out. "Coincidentally" just after the Russian invasion of neighboring Georgia, something that caused great panic in Azerbaijan. ("Azerbaijan had been holding a firm line in negotiations on production sharing agreement extension and 'deep gas' ... Recent events in Georgia, however, may be causing Azerbaijan to reconsider its line, according to BP's representatives.)

BP even won an exclusive contract with the government to drill for untapped gas in the Caspian Sea. This required BP to drill 2600 feet deep, with all the risks this entails.

Turkey
Other leaked documents show that BP was pressuring the Turks accelerate finishing the gas pipeline from the Shah Deniz field. That international safety standards were not going to be met was "something that should be taken in stride" according to a report of a meeting between the then head of BP Azerbaijan, David Woodward, and the American ambassador.

A cable from July 2007 with a report of a conversation between BP boss Bill Schrader and the U.S. ambassador brings another disturbing fact to light: the lack of security installations. "All it would take is one guy with a mortar or six guys in a boat" to paralyze the entire infrastructure, according to Schrader. (MVL)