Kevin Costner is no stranger to playing the hero. But perhaps that's a role reserved for his countless Hollywood films after it emerged BP invested £10 million in his oil clean up machines, despite failing to pass field tests, reports the Guardian.
Who can forget Costner's harrowing U.S. congressional testimony last year when he claimed his oil sucking invention could save the day for BP after endless amounts of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico last April.
Contrary to Costner's account, experts say the device didn't live up to expectations and was far from up to par as cited in a series of unsuccessful field tests, reports OilVoice. The first attempt was called off due to security reasons. The second failed thanks to a clogged pump. The third test finally worked, but even then experts criticised Costner's device for its outdated technology.
A week later BP still ordered 32 of the centrifuge systems owned by Costner's company Blue Planet Water Solutions.
Reports of the technology's "varying success" as cited by the Guardian come days before BP marks its one year anniversary since capping the well in the Gulf of Mexico.
But that hasn't stopped the actor from continuing to lobby for the adoption of his invention. The actor is in talks to get BP and a Louisiana based parish for the sale of "Big Gulps", a fleet of centrifuged equipped with permanent barges.