Running head: BRITISH PETROLEUM OIL SPILL 1
British Petroleum Oil Spill
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British Petroleum Oil Spill
British Petroleum is an International oil and gas company that started its operations in 1908, whose head offices are in London, England. The company has interests in all the areas of the oil and gas industry including exploration and production, purifying, supply, marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading. As of 2015, the company has its presence in over 70 countries in the world with an estimated production of 3.3million barrels per day. The largest division of the company is BP America, with listings on the New York stock exchange, the London Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt stock exchange (Bamberg, 2000).
The company has faced numerous ethical claims more recently from environmental pollution resulting from the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill (Safina, 2011). The company was found guilty of negligence in a ruling given in September 2014. A drilling rig exploded after a blowout, and it led to the death of 11 rig workers, and 16 other were injured. The fire lasted for two days, and the rig sunk leading to the largest unintended oil spill ever witnessed. Over 4.1 million barrels of oil found their way into the Gulf waters. This resulted in a decline in tourism and marine activity along the Gulf, but this has gradually recovered with marine life said to be doing well (Safina, 2011).
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BP has been accused of putting their profits before the safety of their workers and the environment, and this has profoundly affected their reputation worldwide. The company originally refused any responsibility for the oil spill and omitted the company name from the incident calling it the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. They distanced themselves from the spill, but pressure from the American government and environmental organizations had them playing a different tune. Their refusal to acknowledge the spill led to further damage to the company reputation. The company agreed to 11 counts of felony on misconduct and neglect resulting in the death of 11 workers. They were also charged with one account of blocking Congress from conducting proper investigations.
The company launched efforts to clean up the damage. Part of their website was dedicated to the oil spill giving a glimpse into the efforts going on that were not making it into the news. They were, however, criticized for making light of the situation and giving false reports on the extent to which the oil spill damaged the Gulf waters. The company folded under pressure and began a series of payouts that are still ongoing to date.
Their handling of the oil spill was disastrous if anything as the company kept denying any wrongdoing and by the time they decided to take decisive actions, the public had already judged them as guilty. The headlines for the following months showed millions of gallons of oils spewing from the rig and flooding the ocean. The company was placed on a five-year probation including a civil penalty of $525 million to be paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission for securities violations (Vassiliou, 2009). The company should have made better decisions regarding the oil spill, and even better prevention tactics such as the installation of an oil platform. Some of the installations of the damaged oil rig were considered as being risky. The spill further cemented years of scandals that showed the negligence of the company when it came to safety and environmental regulations.
Even as the company seeks to recover from this image-tainting incidence, the damage from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico still hangs over them so does the direct and indirect environmental impacts. The company continues to lose its customers besides the loss of investors who do not want to be associated with such a grave scandal.
References
Bamberg, James H. (2000). The History of the British Petroleum Company: British Petroleum and Global Oil, 1950–1975: The Challenge of Nationalism . (Vol. III). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Safina, C. (2011). A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout . Crown Publishers.
Vassiliou, M. S. (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Petroleum Industry . Scarecrow Press.
