bp blockade

What on earth is the point of trying to blockage (punish) BP

BP are no more at fault than any other oil company, they just happened to be holding the gun when it went off. It could just as easily been any of those operating in the GoM, each & all of them are breathing "there but for the grace ....."

Also don't loose track of the fact that whilst BP where the prime contractor for this rig, it was owned & being operated by a number of companies. I am sure that many of the actions that caused this mother of all f### ups were not directly made by BP themselves. At the end of the day when the final page is put to the enquiry of this disaster I am sure many other companies beside BP will be seen as responsible.

BP are acting very responsibly in this mess, they have made the provisions required to fund the clean up & compensation.
I just hope those other companies who where actually operating the rig at the time have the financial strength & business acumen to do the same, or maybe they will just declare chapter 11 & walk away.

The last thing BP need is idiots blockading or causing infantile level criminal damage to their property.
It may give perverse gratification (or whatever they get out of wrecking BP) to the anarchists of this world, but it's just futile in the BP scheme of things & the only thing it achieves is more cost's to the greater UK population with unnecessary policing costs - and like it or not that is something we all need to take care of.

quote:

Also don't loose track of the fact that whilst BP where the prime contractor for this rig, it was owned & being operated by a number of companies. I am sure that many of the actions that caused this mother of all f### ups were not directly made by BP themselves.

It appears they ran roughshod over the contractors (TransOcean the principal one), who clearly stated that they felt the risks (methane pocket) were not worth the reward and wished to cease all speculative activity at the (rather costly) site.

BP has a reputation amongst the subcontractors in the region for heavy-handedness and lack of attention to details as regards safety (this from a good friend of mine who has been dive-welding in the Gulf for years).

That said–in the US, for example, most BP stations are privately owned which does no good for the individual franchisees (who cannot afford to change branding and suppliers overnight).

Before stones are thrown at BP, it's worth reminding ourselves of the Exxon Valdez case. Read up on it, then make your own judgement...

quote:

Originally posted by David Dever:

It appears they ran roughshod over the contractors (TransOcean the principal one), who clearly stated that they felt the risks (methane pocket) were not worth the reward and wished to cease all speculative activity at the (rather costly) site.

I may be wrong here, but I do suspect all the other companies involved with this rig will be falling over themselves to make similar statements.

Sadly, the Valdez incident isn't even on the same scale. But there's interesting background on that, too–a corporation too cheap to repair the sonar on the (single-hulled) tanker.

I think the Exxon-Valdez is relevant, the issues here aren't specifically about the size of the disaster but rather what part corporations had in allowing it to happen, both individually and collectively. So in both cases the parent company and subcontractors (AND authorising authorities and watchdogs) were all culpable. This includes the Coast guard service and the American oversite committes responsible for issuing whatever licences were needed.

It is also worth mentioning that back in 1979 there was a significantly more damaging spill (lasting 297 days) from which no lessons were learnt and for which the reasons for the disaster are still 'unknown'. In those days the oil company (mexican) could just hide everything and ignore the issues.

BP at least held their hands up and worked ferociously to sort the problem and find a fix. (Would have been better to have had a contingency in place, and yes contingency planning does occur but usually seems only as a 'box-ticking' exercise unfortunately.)

Now all we have to do is not only learn the lessons but implement them in a consistent and robust way.

bon

PS: Anybody else fed up with hearing yet another person come on and say 'Procedures have been put in place to prevent recurrence'. (hospitals are good at this) but not saying either what was wrong with the old process or what the new one is and exactly how it is going to stop a repeat. (especially if not adhered to!)

Whilst this appears to have been an avoidable disaster for which just amends should to be fully paid, it seems to have been taken over by National interests, business rivals opportunities and lobbyists. I wonder what would have happened with regards to settlements had the incident below been on American soil with a foreign company at fault ?

Bhopal

or this as an example of how an oil company can act in avoiding paying it's dues

Valdez

Profit at any cost/risk is not a good business strategy although it seems to be a common one, hopefully some good will come out of this disaster eventually

Hi Dave,

I work for BP and have done for 19 years.

This incident is a complete tragedy: 11 people will not come home and BP, as well as the whole oil and gas industry, will have learn from this and be better and safer for it. I cannot comment on the hearsay from your "friend" around the way BP deals with contractors, but I will say there are strict procedures around the way things are done and the whole industry follows them to the letter.

From what I have seen and read, it seems that this tragedy is a combination of circumstances some of which were very unusual and unpredicable, and some of which could have been predicted. I think we need to wait for the proper investigation and learn the lessons from it, so that no one dies again while working for BP, as opposed to pointing fingers at this stage.

In the meantime, BP has an obligation to clean up the environment and to compensate those businesses and individuals who have lost becasue of this event, and to be honest I think BP is doing this as best it can and I know everyone in the firm is committed to that.

regards Dev

quote:

Originally posted by Dev B (on the wheels of steel):

This incident is a complete tragedy: 11 people will not come home and BP, as well as the whole oil and gas industry, will have learn from this and be better and safer for it. I cannot comment on the hearsay from your "friend" around the way BP deals with contractors, but I will say there are strict procedures around the way things are done and the whole industry follows them to the letter.


regards Dev

I fully agree that this is a tragedy and any loss of life is tragic. I also agree it would be wrong to comment on the 'hearsay' that Dave reported. As it is equally wrong for us to comment on the 'hearsay' you report i.e. That strict procedures are in place and that they are followed to the letter.

This should all be confirmed or otherwise in full inquiry (should one occur.)

Asking a dive-welder about drilling operations is like asking a journalist about the truth.

To go back to the original post, the point of Greenpeace doing what they did was for profile and not to dent profits etc.). It's easy to be wise after the event and present speculation as fact and to assert in the gave of the facts but it's fair to say that in the UK the current profile of this is little more than a facile debate about nasty Barack unfairly using the B word; the special relationship; and when/if Tony Hayward should go. Set against a context of deaths; indescribable damage to wildlife, landscape, infrastructure, economy etc. it's fair to say Greenpeace concluded we have rhe wring debate going on.

As far as blame is concerned it is right and proper to wait until the outcome of an investigation. It is also right and proper to note that, contrary to assetions made by several posters from Mike B onwards, anything BO has done thusfar it has had to be compelled to so rather than so volunteer.

Best perhaps to leave it there. Greenpeace point was that we have in place less than the US to prevent this happening here. .

Set

Apologies for spelling. iPhone, poorly eyes and tiredness. A heady mix.

BP is making a change of CEO now and last report was the dispersants are working but just think of miniature little globules being carried up the Gulf Stream.

Exxon was horrible in the way it treated the locals, gave them a paultry settlement and hardly paid any fines. Really a shame.

On top of all this wee have a billionaire wanting to be Republican governor in CA Terminator will be out November. Meg Whitman wants oil drilling off CA coast, stop the air pollution cuts and take welfare and services away. ARRRRGGGHHH!

Also Feds are holding up 20 green solar and wind projects ready to go and if not signed in by end of year we loose out totally. Stupid beurocrats. "We've streamlined the process but need to be sure"