在事故发生几小时之内，批评就指向了所有可疑的方面：首先是美国联邦矿产管理局，因为该单位在例行检查中向英国石油公司开了绿灯，照美国总统奥巴马的说法，它还和石油企业保持着某种“亲密”关系；接着是总统奥巴马本人，因为他未能兑现自己选举时许下的承诺，对内政部进行改革；还有石油服务公司Transocean，那个有问题的防井喷装置就是出自他们之手；最后当然是英国石油公司，因为该公司“不严格”甚至是“鲁莽”的安全文化。
Within a few hours of the accident, critics trained their sights on all the usual suspects: the Minerals Management Service, for giving BP a pass on routine inspections and lapsing into a relationship with the oil industry that United States President Barack Obama denounced as “cozy”; Obama himself, for having failed to enact the reforms at the Interior Department that he had promised while campaigning for election; the oil services firm Transocean, for the faulty blowout preventer; and, of course, BP, for a “lax” and even “reckless” safety culture.