Cameron International's (CAM) CEO declined to comment on the role a company device designed to prevent oil well blowouts played in the events leading to a fire that sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig last week.

Cameron's blowout preventer was installed in the well the Transocean Inc. (RIG) rig was working on last Tuesday, when a surge of oil to the surface sparked a fire. The rig sank on Thursday, killing 11 workers. The well is now leaking as much as 5,000 barrels of oil a day, creating a slick that is nearing the Louisiana shoreline. The rig was contracted by BP PLC (BP).

Cameron Chief Executive Jack Moore said he "would not want to speculate" on how the company's blowout preventer operated before the fire, speaking during a conference call to discuss first-quarter earnings.

"Right now all the efforts are really geared around getting this well shut in," Moore said. "There will be a full investigation and I think that will bear out hopefully to everyone what happened. It's just too early to speculate on when."

No Cameron personnel were on the rig at the time of the fire, Moore said. Cameron has a $500 million liability policy to respond to any legal claims related to the fire, company officials said on the call.

-By Brian Baskin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2453; brian.baskin@dowjones.com
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