A federal appeals court in New Orleans says a federal safety board has the right to investigate the role of Transocean in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that was drilling for BP.
The company challenged the authority of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board to do the investigation.
In a 2-1 decision yesterday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that the board could investigate.
The safety board's investigation continued during the appeal.
In June, the board issued a report citing multiple failures and improper testing of the rig's blowout preventer as factors in the accident, and found fault with BP and Transocean.
