Issue Management: Risk Management
Unlike traditional risk management tools, which are usually based around tangible and quantifiable issues, scenario thinking encourages executives to step into the unknown and imagine a range of possible futures. - Doug Randall and Chris Ertel
Managing risk is central to many corporate strategies. Reputations that take decades to build can be ruined in a matter of hours through incidents such as environmental accidents. “The definition of risk management for organizations has broadened, expanding beyond the tangible and quantifiable issues to the less tangible and more qualitative forms of risk. The bounded definition blinds executives to considerable opportunities that come
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[7] Eleven members of the Deepwater Horizon rig were killed and fourteen were injured in the explosion which rocked the Gulf Coast and spewed upwards to 40,000 barrels of crude a day into the Gulf waters.
The oil industry is more dangerous than other industries, and oil companies, including BP, strive to reduce accidents and improve safety. But BP, the world’s third largest oil and gas producer, has the worst health, environment and safety record than any other major oil companies, according to Yulia Reuter, (Head of the energy research team at RiskMetrics)
Company Background
BP is a global oil and energy company based in Great Britain. The company locates and extracts oil all over the world. BP also refines and transforms oil to gasoline, motor oils and other chemicals. Because of the supply chain system that BP operates, the company interacts with a vast number of individuals and organizations whose interactions bring along ethical obligations. Basic ethical obligations in the oil industry include the following:
- Providing customers with the product that meets their expectations
- Ensuring reasonable levels of workplace health and safety
- Dealing honestly with suppliers
- Complying with environmental laws and industry best practices
- Building long term share value
“We are committed to the safety and the development of our
In an article posted by CNN, it is revealed that "BP was ruled responsible for the release of 3.1 million barrels" (Griffin et al). The process of removing the oil is in progress, but there is still a magnitude of oil to be cleaned up. This disaster did not only affect the environment, but it also affected the workers involved. It is also mentioned in the article that eleven workers died. The disaster affected the lives of many people other than the oil rig workers, however. There have been some concerns about the quality of seafood being produced from the area, along with the health effects it had on the community. The New England Journal of Medicine mentions in their article that " Louisiana reported 415 self-identified health problems believed to be related to the Gulf oil spill" (Goldstein et al). The oil spill has had a profound effect on the gulf coast community and will continue to for many years to come. Hopefully, this horrible event can be a lesson for the future, so that more precautions are taken to benefit nature and
(BP) happens to be one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. There operations include the exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil; to include the refining of crude oil; and the manufacturing of petroleum products.
BP is best known as a global leader providing oil and gas to customers. They also produce lubricants for use with engines and
When it comes to BP and the changes that were made in the post-crisis era since the oil spill it is very important to reference their history of safety violations. The oil spill of project Deepwater Horizon was one largest examples of their previous lack of care and respect to safety and the earth. Previous to the spill they have been in trouble with the authorities for illegal dumping of waste products in northern Alaska as well as being fined $13 million by OSHA for failing to comply with safety violations four years after an explosion at a Texas refinery in 2005. BP has a notable track record for paying out billions of dollars to offer compensation for accidents or slight
BP tends to make bets that others don’t which is most likely why the disastrous deep water horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico five years ago. The fire burned for 36 hours while hydrocarbons leaked into the gulf before the well was sealed, unfortunately eleven individuals died. It has been difficult for BP to be the best company right now since this falling and they have been in reparation mode since this catastrophe. However, BP is now incorporating high safety and showed everyone that they are very reliable on the recovery of this hardship of BP trying to mix oil with water. BP came together to control the situation, cleanup, and diminish as much contamination as possible into the gulf. In addition, they are devoted long term to improve the Gulf of Mexico’s bionetwork and promise to be more careful so this will not happen again.
BP has had a long history of ethical and legal violations because BP chose to put profits above all else. In the past twenty years, BP subsidiaries were convicted of environmental crimes in Texas and Alaska. In addition, BP received the biggest fine in US history regarding safety violations. Although BP accepted responsibility, their record showed questionable and illegal behavior for twenty years. One of BP's major issues happened in a Texas refinery close to Galveston in 2005 (Jennings, 2009). This explosion took the lives of fifteen workers and injured five hundred people and caused residents nearby to become sheltered in their homes (Jennings, 2009). The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation board concluded that BP had
When we look at the effect of the deepwater oil spill on other stakeholders, we see that they were impacted more negatively. There were 11 people killed and 17 were injured. Although the number of people in this group is small, losses of life and health weigh heavily on the scale as we assess the consequences of BP’s decision to forego the back-up switch.
There are very few aspects of how a company behaves as a corporate citizen that do not apply to a company of the size and nature of BP. The most significant of these are the sheer environmental impact - not simply of the extraction of oil and the energy use of BP's own operation, but more significantly of the impact on climate change of the actual use of all the oil by BP's customers. The state of current scientific evidence raises serious question marks over whether or not human society can actually afford to burn all the hydrocarbons whose existence we have already identified - never mind potential future discoveries. Twenty years ago, people worried that one day the oil would run out. Now, it is the case that the real issue has been identified as one of emissions.
Another company that has recently conducted poor social responsibility is British Petroleum (BP plc). For those unfamiliar, BP, a multinational company headquartered in London, England, is one of the world’s seven major oil and gas companies operating in all areas of the oil and gas industry. These industries include the likes of exploration, production, distribution, marketing, and power generation, along with several other areas. With that much integration in one particular industry, a large corporation like that carries a large amount of social responsibility. The company’s origin dates all the way back to the founding of a small Iranian oil discovery company in 1908, but it has not been until recently that the company has been directly involved in several major environmental and safety incidents, one of which being the well-known 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters.
The BP Oil Spill An Introductory Background - One of the most controversial ecological disasters in recent history focused on multinational British Petroleum and their Gulf of Mexico Operations. The Deepwater Oil Disaster began on April 20, 2010 with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Oil platform, killing 11, injuring 17. It was not until July 15th, however, that the leak was stopped by capping the wellhead, after releasing almost 5 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude oil, or 53,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico. It was not until September 19th that the relief well process was complete and the U.S. Government, EPA, and Coast Guard agencies declared the well breach effectively stopped (Cavnar, 2010).
BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, is the third largest oil and gas producer in the world, producing almost 3.8 million barrels per day. BP was founded in 1908 by William Knox D’Arcy in London, United Kingdom. The company operates worldwide in several sectors of the oil and gas industry such as generating low carbon energy, moving oil and gas, and off and onshore oil and gas extraction (BP, 2014). However, the offshore Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened on April 20th, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the greatest oil spills that took place in history. The disaster caused the loss of the lives of 11 workers, severely injuring 17 workers, and the aftermath had a great impact on the environment in the Gulf of Mexico.
Some internal weaknesses are also existed which could influence the company. For the oil and gas company, the main problems refer to pollution and safety. BP has involved in the largest environment problem which is caused by the spill
Risk management is the term applied to a logical and systematic method of establishing the context, identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating, monitoring and communicating risks associated with any activity, function or process in a way that will enable organizations to minimize losses and maximize opportunities. (Lecture notes)Risk Management is also described as 'all the things you need to do to make the future sufficiently certain'. (The NZ Society for Risk Management, 2001)
INTRODUCTION BP, formerly British Petroleum and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, has experienced a lot of ups and downs over its hundred-year history—from nearly bankrupting its founder William D’Arcy to becoming one of the world’s largest energy companies. BP has also experienced its fair share of controversies regarding business practices, environmental damage, and hazards to workers. It and all other large energy companies have come under fire for releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. For some time, BP has attempted to turn a page in its history book toward a more environmentally-friendly future through investments in renewable energy and a support of ethics and compliance
Deepwater Horizon oil Spill: BP’s drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico had an explosion in April 2010, causing the “largest oil spill catastrophe in the petroleum industry history”. It caused the death of 11 men and injury to several others. “More than 150,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea, every day, for almost 5 months and up to 68,000 square miles of the Gulf 's surface were covered” (1).