23 May 2010 Oh, dear! How big will my bonus be?

23 May 2010 Oh, dear! How big will my bonus be?


“Official: BP 'devastated' by Gulf oil spill

By the CNN Wire Staff

May 23, 2010 1:19 p.m. EDT



CNN) -- The managing director of BP on Sunday defended his company against a perceived lack of credibility, insisting that "nobody is more devastated" by an underwater oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

"All of us at BP are trying to solve the problem," Robert Dudley said on CNN's "State of the Union." "... We've been open about what we're doing."

Oil has been spewing into the Gulf since late April, when the drill rig Deepwater Horizon -- which BP was leasing from its owner, Transocean -- exploded and sank about 40 miles off Louisiana. BP has estimated oil is flowing out of the well, located beneath 5,000 feet of water, at the rate of about 5,000 barrels a day (210,000 gallons). However, some have estimated the flow rate far higher, and critics have claimed BP is attempting to downplay the spill, its magnitude and possibly its effect on the environment.

Asked about comments made by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, who alleged BP has "lost all credibility," Dudley said. "Those words hurt a little bit."



http://us.cnn.com/2010/US/05/23/oil.spill.response/index.html?dsq=51613821#comment-51613821

The fouling of Gulf of Mexico waters continues, essentially un-diminished in volume since 22 April. BP spends a lot of time explaining that they “will do everything possible.”, and little apparent time doing anything other than watching the oil pour out of the seabed and attempting to blame other companies for the disaster. Each promised attempt to stop the gush of oil consumes several days of talking about what they want to accomplish, followed by failure to accomplish anything, and followed by explaining how hard it is to do what they need to do.

Yes, it is difficult to extract oil from a mile beneath the surface of the ocean. Drilling into rock beneath the seabed adds even more difficulty. But inherent in the permission to deplete common natural resources while fattening corporate coffers is the responsibility to understand what can go wrong and take steps to prevent it going wrong. Also inherent is the responsibility to know how to recover from something that their internal greed caused them to FUBAR.

They knew, BP knew, that the well was not properly protected, that the blow-out-preventer was damaged, was not communicating with the drill rig, and that its batteries were dead. Yet they went ahead with tests that indicated pressures in the well and then, after logging erroneous results, demanded that the well be sealed inadequately.

Halliburton coasts on this fuck-up. They knew they were being asked to cut corners, knew what had happened in a similar instance in the Timor Sea, and still let BP coerce them into shoddy and inadequate work sealing the well. They’ll escape major blame using the “We were only following orders” excuse.

No one knows, yet, how much environmental, social, and economic damage BP’s greed has unleashed. It will affect millions of Americans and untold areas of ocean. But BP “is devastated.” and that makes it alright. I wonder if BP will still be devastated when they post record profits for another quarter.

The American taxpayer is going to pay for the cleanup. Our government will eventually have to step in and take over the task or nothing will be accomplished. Then we’ll pay for it a second time as BP recovers their expenses in telling us, over and over, how sorry they are, how they will clean it all up, and of course, as their executives receive their customary “post disaster bonuses.