Williams was the chief electronics technician for Transocean, a U.S.-owned, Switzerland-based oil
industry support company that specialized in deep water drilling equipment. The company’s $560
million Deepwater Horizon rig was in the Gulf of Mexico working on the Macondo well. British
Petroleum (BP) held the rights to explore the well and had leased the rig, along with its crew, from
Transocean. Of the 126 people aboard the Deepwater Horizon, 79 were from Transocean, seven were
from BP, and the rest were from other firms including Anadarko, Halliburton, and M-1 Swaco, a
subsidiary of Schlumberger.