There is a trial underway in a fatal oilfield accident case involving multiple companies, including Patterson UTI, Red Mountain Operating, and National Oilwell Varco. National Oilwell Varco is the remaining defendant after others settled out.
This case illustrates the hazards that workers face in the oilfields in Oklahoma and Texas, among other regions, due to the inherent dangers of oilfield work combined with the time and money pressures of the bust/boom economics of oil drilling. The time pressure is that prices fluctuate and what may be marketable today may be a losing proposition tomorrow if the price of oil drops too soon too fast. The money pressure of course arises out of that same fact combined with the circumstances of drilling being very dangerous, but the risk is not easily quantifiable and a company may survive a while without a major accident and thus benefit financially from dangerous practices.
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