The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was the largest and most catastrophic scandal of the company to this day. Not only was it the largest scandal for BP, but it is also ranked the number two largest oil spill recorded in history. An astonishing 210 million gallons of oil spread 2,500 to 68,000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico. It all started when BP contracted out to Transocean to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. BP chose a spot that was supposed to be rich in oil and was rushing on a deadline and budget that they needed to meet. It is due to BP’s lack of risk analysis, following procedures, and cutting corners that 11 people were killed and 17 more were injured.
On April 20, 2010 an explosion on the Transocean Oil Rig occurred mainly due to BP not keeping up with design and procedure standards. Caleb Holloway, a survivor of this horrific event explains to Kyle Thiermann, a journalist for Seeker's, the real life events that occurred. "We did everything we could to get as many people off of there and to try to salvage what we could
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on the rig” (S., 2016) Caleb had said in the interview. The interview and criminal investigations goes on to show that BP's design was missing a seal that allowed for gas to escape which contributed to the explosion of the rig. Not only was the design flawed, but BP omitted fundamental tests of the well cement lining, ignored multiple warning signs of an oil leak, and started to evacuate Deepwater Horizon when it was far too late. BP suffered multiple criminal charges, fines, and lawsuits that affected international relations with the United States. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill affected the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. This event made it the largest oil spill to happen in US waters thus causing massive amounts of tension between BP, which is a British owned company, and the government of the United States. During the trials against BP, the chief executive Tony Haywood increased tensions between the UK and US by a series of PR mistakes. According to the guardian, Tony Haywood made the mistakes of an "undiplomatic description of the oil spill as 'relatively tiny' compared with the ocean and the insensitive statement that 'I'd like my life back'" (Carus, F., & Wearden, G., 2010). Tony Haywood also did not win over anyone when he appeared under oath before the US Energy and Commerce Committee. It is stated that he was evasive and dodged questions that could have led to the conclusion of their liability in the event. Due to the way Tony Haywood handled the situation "Congressman Ed Markey even went as far as to accuse the company of lying about the size of the spill in a document handed to his committee" (Carus, F., & Wearden, G., 2010). Once this accusation was out, the tensions rose to an all time high that needed to be resolved by superior rankings. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister at that time, stepped in to sooth the accusations of British haughtiness and incompetence.
He did this by taking the risk of infuriating his own city in order to put international relations first and sympathize with the exasperation of the White House. Although the Prime Minister made efforts to sooth things over, BP was held to maximum punishments that the court would allow for. They were “charged with 11 counts of felony manslaughter, one count of felony obstruction of Congress, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 1505, and violations of the Clean Water and Migratory Bird Treaty Acts” (cfpub.epa.gov, 2013). This totaled $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties. BP was also sentenced to 60 months of probation and had to pay another $20 billion into a special cleanup fund. This event caused massive tension with the UK and the company itself. The issues are still being resolved to this
day.
I am to date puzzled by the graphic images that were being displayed on every news channel and every website ranging from social media to political websites. It was just completely unexpected and unheard of. After all, who would expect a blowout of that magnitude to happen in US waters? It did happen however and it shook the industry as a whole. It shaped the future of Deepwater oil exploration. This was meant to be the wake-up call that we were in great need of, to be able to stop all malpractices. To be able to see in bright light the true opportunity cost of cutting corners. Capping stacks were introduced and taken seriously, enough to make capping stacks a new facet of the offshore drilling industry as a post-blowout remedial procedure. Capping stacks were introduced as basically a coupling of a BOP ram and a containment cap, this dual barrier provided an effective push against a blown out
the Environmental Protection Agency ordered General Electric Co. to spend $460 million to dredge PCBs it had dumped into the Hudson River in the past, perhaps the Bush administration's boldest environmental action to date. The decision was bitterly opposed by the company, but hailed by national conservation groups and many prominent and prosperous residents of the picturesque Hudson River Valley.
At the end I come to conclusion that BP was not properly prepared for any disaster like that there risk assessment related to project is very limited and even not considered seriously about it for their own progress and putting live of public and employees in danger by not following the standard SOP of particular project. Even after incident happened they try to close their eyes on reality. The company should take this incident as alarm and should implement proper risk assessment for future and also compensate damages on ethical ground and if they counter this situation in good way their loss of bad reputation will be lesser as it predicted to be they should considered their responsibility towards society as well by doing this they not only making other people lives better but also earning good will to their company.
The BP oil spill began with the explosion of the mobile offshore drilling unit known as the Deepwater Horizon, then operating in the Macondo Prospect Oil Field some 60 kilometers off the coast of the U.S. state of Louisiana, on April 29, 2010. The leak was capped on July 15, 2010, with a repair to the underwater wellhead ruptured by the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Thus, the BP oil spill lasted for about three months. During this time, roughly 5 million barrels of crude oil leaked from the wellhead into the Gulf of Mexico. The flow rate was not uniform, beginning...
The Exxon Valdez and the BP oil spill were caused by different disasters but had just as great of effects. On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill began to reek havoc on the Pacific Ocean. The oil tanker, Exxon Valdez, left from Valdez, Alaska and was headed for Los Angeles, California. The tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef in Alaska. After six hours of being grounded, the Exxon Valdez spilled about 10.9 million gallons of oil (53 million gallons aboard). The BP oil spill occurred a little differently. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded and caused the largest marine oil spill in history. The platform sank about 5,000 feet underwater. The BP oil spill poured 4.2 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. These oil spills are largely compared but were cause by completely different events. They had similar effects/damage, however.
Experts say the many deaths could have been prevented with better safety training and better safety precautions. Since then new and old rules have been enforced. During the late 1980's the federal and provincial governments installed boards to regulate offshore oil and gas. These boards required anyone visiting the rigs to have minimum safety...
I agree with the article when it says he meant well, however some comments he made were not worded the best and he stumbled a lot which hurt BP's reputation as well as his own. Instead of expressing his compassion and sympathy towards the victims, the CEO took too lightly to the situation and even minimized its severity. He was selfish saying he wanted his life back and went to sail on his yacht, leaving the company high and dry on the crisis. They should have directed him to be more concerned and compassionate about the victims of the oild spill. In fact, they should have made sure that he showed that he cared more. Furthermo...
Weeks, Jennifer. "BP's Financial Pain From Spill Is Just Beginning." CQ Researcher 21.29 (2011): 688. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
British Petroleum (“BP”) is the company that is being blamed for the incident. Employing 80,000 people, BP is an international oil company that puts different technology to use for finding oil and gas under the Earth’s surface. One of the oilrigs, Deepwater Horizon has drilled 35,000 ft. making it to be the deepest drilling of oil and gas (Walsh). Deepwater Horizon was drilling in the Gulf of Mexico about 52 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip. After the explosion, helicopters searched for 11 crewmembers that reported missing. 17 people were injured (BP Internal Investigation Team). A day later, the rig was found upside down (BP Oil Spill Timeline). The cost to clean up the damage is approximately $760 million (Walsh).
It was believed that it would be cheaper for PG&E to dispose of the chemicals illegally since the company officials were more concerned with the profits than about people's lives. The hiding of this critical information had tragic consequences for the people involved. PG&E must have realized that they were guilty since they settled the case for $330 million in private arbitration. All in all, it probably ended up costing PG&E more money than it would have if they had properly lined the water pools and taken care of things the correct way in the beginning.
“On March 23, 2005, at 1:20 pm, the BP Texas City Refinery suffered one of the worst industrial disasters in recent U.S. history. Explosions and fires killed 15 people and injured another 180, alarmed the community, and resulted in financial losses exceeding $1.5 billion.” (U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2007) There are many small and big decisions and oversights that led to the incident. Underneath all the specific actions or inaction is a blatant disregard for addressing safety violations and procedures that had been pointed out to BP even years before this event. The use of outdated equipment and budget cuts also contributed to the circumstances that allowed this accident to happen.
He wasn’t smart enough to lead a crime of this magnitude. With a quick temper and wanting to make some extra cash, it was determined he had partners. As his accomplices came to his defense on the oil rig, there was another problem brewing off site. One more person was involved and he had intentions of blowing up the rig to small pieces.
Nelson, A.N. 1971. Effects of oil on marine plants and animals. London: Institute of Petroleum.
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The oil rig sank a day and a half later. The spill was referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and BP oil disaster. It was first said that little oil had actually leaked into the ocean, but a little over a month later the estimate was 12,000-19,000 barrels of crude oil being leaked per day. Many attempts were made to stop the leak but all failed until they capped the leak on July 15, 2010, and on September 19 the federal government declared the well “effectively dead.”
On a Monday afternoon, A couple of friends and I drove about forty-five minutes to El Dorado to see a movie. A movie in which we didn’t know anything about. None of us had even seen the trailer. I sent my friend a link to the movies that were showing at the cinema in El Dorado, and she had chosen Deepwater Horizon solely on the fact she liked the actors that had been cast for the movie. A few of these actors included Mark Wahlberg and Kate Hudson. Deepwater Horizon, as I came to find out on the car ride there, is about the most devastating oil spill in United States history. Since this event occurred only roughly six years ago, I recognized it after my friend called it the BP oil spill. Growing up in south Arkansas, I know many people that work on oil rigs so the spill was something that came close to home. The movie portrays the events leading up to the rig explosion and the aftermath concerning the people aboard the rig.