NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- BP's head of drilling engineering for the Gulf of Mexico at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster testified he didn't believe deepwater drilling was a "high-risk" activity before the 2010 blowout of the company's Macondo well.

Jonathan Sprague's March 2011 testimony is contained in a batch of documents plaintiffs' lawyers submitted Thursday to the federal judge presiding over a trial for litigation spawned by the massive Gulf oil spill.

During a pretrial deposition, Sprague said he recognized the risks associated with deepwater wells but thought they could be eliminated before the deadly rig explosion and the nation's worst offshore oil spill.

Plaintiffs' lawyers and government attorneys claim BP and its contractors ignored risks in a rush to complete the Macondo project.