In late April an explosive blowout...had turned the Deepwater Horizon...into a pile of charred and twisted metal at the bottom of the sea. The industry had acted as if such a catastrophe would never occur. So had its regulators...The waters of the Gulf below a thousand feet are a relatively new frontier for oilmen—and one of the toughest places on the planet to drill...As technology was taking drillers deeper, however, the methods for preventing blowouts and cleaning up spills did not keep pace...[C]ongressional investigators and industry experts contend that BP cut corners on its cement job...BP declined to comment on these matters, citing the ongoing investigation...The way BP drilled the Macondo well surprised Magne Ognedal, director general of the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA)... When the spill occurred, BP's response fell well short of its claims...The Deepwater Horizon spill had become the largest accidental spill into the ocean in history, larger even than the Ixtoc I blowout in Mexico's Bay of Campeche in 1979. [also refers to Transocean, Halliburton]