Haggling

The legal haggling over this point may end up only determining who pays the damages and not affect who gets paid at all. But it's still an interesting thing to follow.

BP offshore land negotiator Michael Beirne said that there are e-mails showing that minority well owners Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and MOEX 2007 LLC were provided real-time data from the rig in the days before the explosion.

The disclosure could be a factor down the road in parceling out financial liability for the disaster.

BP has already spent more than $11 billion related to the cleanup and response to the spill. It also has agreed to set aside $20 billion for a victim's compensation fund, and it faces tens of billions of dollars in fines, penalties and other potential liabilities from the disaster.

Anadarko and MOEX would be excused from paying their share of the damages if BP were deemed grossly negligent or shown to have committed willful misconduct, according to an agreement among the three parties. Absent such a finding, the partners would be responsible for a portion of the damages, depending on the amount of their culpability, according to testimony at the hearings Wednesday.

Beirne also testified that the Macondo well project was nearly $60 million over budget days before the explosion.

Despite the fact that the testimony could indicate a degree of culpability on the part of these minority share owners, they won't be held responsible if BP is found "grossly negligent". Recall that earlier this year, Senator Vitter introduced a bill designed to limit the liability of all oil companies involved in such accidents to $150 million or an amount equal to the company's last four quarters of profits. Vitter's bill was apparently designed specifically to protect smaller oil companies like Anadarko in situations like this. Anadarko is a long-time contributor to Vitter's campaigns and as such one of the first interests, the Senator moved to protect in the wake of the disaster.