Money translates to freedom, power, and influence. BP, with billions on hand, is very free, powerful and influential. That it used that freedom, power and influence to increase profits by sidestepping both internal industry standards and government regulation, and used them repeatedly to avoid penalties when caught, seem to be a matter of record:

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/05/bp_spent_millions_to_evade_saf.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/02/bp-deepwater-horizon-oil-spills

I'm not saying they intended to have an explosion, wreck a rig, get people killed, or pollute the gulf. Drunk drivers don't usually intend to get into wrecks even though they roll the dice every night they drive home inebriated. I suspect that BP fully expected to stay lucky and to get away with their lax attitude. Besides their mandate as a business is profit, and who known more about drilling for oil than they do? The writers of industry standards and regulations don't have that sort of expertise. Not in drilling safety, and certainly not in making a profit. Unfortunately mother nature didn't see it that way.

It isn't like BP is a mom-and-pop operation barely making enough money to keep the owners sleeping indoors and fed. Yes, safety is expensive, and every dollar spent compliance with standards and regulation is a dollar that can't be reinvested into the business, or used to make investors happy.