May 16 (Reuters) - Consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton was hired by BP Plc <BP.L> to evaluate the company's corrosion control program in Alaska following a major oil spill at the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field in March 2006 and the discovery of further corrosion in August.

U.S. federal investigators and a congressional subcommittee have blamed budget cutting for BP's failure to detect severe internal corrosion in two oil transit pipelines at Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in the United States.

BP has rejected the claims that cost cuts lie at the root of the problems in Alaska, but the company has acknowledged poor management culture at its U.S. operations.

The following is a summary of the most important findings in the Booz Allen report, based on a copy provided to Reuters by congressional staffers:

-- BP's risk assessment methods did not evaluate corrosion risk in a holistic and systematic way.

-- BP's budgeting process did not provide transparency on the risk trade-offs to senior managers. Budgeting was largely driven by top-down targets.

-- BP's corrosion inspection and monitoring programs were insensitive to changes in external factors. The company's procedures were static and rarely changed.

-- The leak detection systems at Prudhoe Bay were inadequate. The emergency shutdown procedures were unclear and not enforced.

-- Audit processes were ignored or focused on issues other than corrosion.

-- Poor communications links made it difficult for senior managers to get useful information from line managers.

-- BP did not have an integrated system for managing and working with corrosion data, making corrosion detection and mitigation more difficult.

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