Gulf oil driller Transocean beefs up lobbying, PR team

An offshore drilling company tied to the massive Gulf oil spill is
boosting its lobbying and public-relations team as the number of
congressional inquiries expands.

Transocean Ltd. recently signed Capitol Hill Consulting Group, which includes a former Democratic congressman and a top energy adviser to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), to lobby for an undisclosed sum, according to federal lobbying records.

{mosads}Transocean, which has had only a small presence in Washington up to now, has also hired FD Public Affairs to help it deal with the media onslaught.

The firm owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that caught on fire on April 20 and eventually sank, triggering the spill, which has yet to be contained. Eleven workers died in the explosion.

Transocean’s lobbying team includes former Oklahoma Democratic Rep. Bill Brewster, who served in the House from 1991 to 1997, and Jack Victory, who handled energy policy for DeLay.

Brian Kennedy, a former spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) who now runs FD’s energy and environment practice, is helping develop a media strategy.

BP, which owns the well and leased the drilling rig from Transocean, has also beefed up its Washington team, hiring public-relations powerhouse the Brunswick Group.

The two firms’ teams will seemingly be lobbying at cross-purposes: In congressional testimony, each has placed at least part of the blame on the other.

Three panels delved last week into what may have caused the spill, and at least five more will examine the disaster and its potential fallout this week.

A House committee investigation uncovered a number of problems with a key safety device known as a blowout preventer and found that the well failed a critical pressure test hours before the accident.

Steven Newman, CEO of Transocean, testified at all three hearings. He is scheduled to offer testimony and answer questions before two more panels this week.

Newman has blamed faulty casing and concrete seals for the blowout, which led to the massive fire on the Deepwater rig.

BP America CEO Lamar McKay, meanwhile, pointed a finger at Transocean, saying that as the drilling operator, the company was responsible for ensuring the rig’s safety.

The finger-pointing prompted a rebuke from President Barack Obama, who called the testimony a “ridiculous spectacle.”

In terms of presence in Washington, BP would seem to have a big advantage over Transocean. The oil behemoth spent nearly $16 million on lobbying last year. But much of the congressional anger at the hearings was directed at BP, which has had other safety issues in recent years.

Transocean has largely stayed out of Washington politics. It hired Ernst & Young to lobby on tax issues, although the contract was terminated last year, according to federal lobbying records.

In addition to testifying before congressional panels, executives from the companies involved with the spill have also provided at least five congressional briefings on the accident and responded to a number of document requests from the ongoing inquires.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the Oversight and Investigations panel had collected around 100,000 pages of documents prior to its hearing last week on what might have caused the accident.