Rhetorical Analysis on Energy Disaster

A common theory in the oil industry is that the “easy oil” is gone. As known reserves become depleted and production declines, both national oil companies & international oil companies (NOCs and IOCs) are forced to look for oil and gas deposits in more challenging geographical and environmental areas. Andrew George, the chairman of Marsh, an energy risk management company, stated that, “It is fair to say easy oil has gone, and oil and gas are now found in tricky areas. The risk of extraction, or the risk of problem and failure during extraction, is greater” (Mukul, 2012). New wells being drilled are becoming deeper and hotter, resulting in operating conditions in considerably higher formation pressures. It means that operators (oil and gas companies) are drilling and producing in areas that are higher risk, such as deep water (Gaurav, 2004), and environmentally sensitive areas such as the artic (Chazan, 2012).

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

Offshore drilling has become an essential part of today’s oil production and demand for energy. With the growth of population comes the increasing demand for oil. The oil industry today, is one of the most used providers of energy. Today in the 20th century the majority of the population in America has a car and cars needs gas to run. The oil reserves in the earth that are easily accessible via land are starting to run dry and are becoming harder to find. This is why we have begun to see more and more offshore oil drills. Although there are benefits of offshore drilling such as profit, lower gas prices, and becoming less dependent on foreign oil. There are also many drawbacks in which if something were to go wrong, the mistake would be catastrophic impacting the environment, the nature, and have trickling effects all around the world.

Even with advanced technology at our fingertips, there is the potential for errors which could lead to oil spills. If a spill occurred in this region, the effects could be detrimental to the ocean. Oil and gas industries have plenty of experience and history of preventing oil spills, but they have “little experience in containing and cleaning up oil spills” (“Oil”). With the possibility of polluting the water, the plan for Arctic drilling loses the votes of all environmentalists, a group that is not to be trifled with. If authorization to drill in this region relied upon the approval of the environmentalists, it could be nearly impossible because of their strong lobbying power. The drilling is also viewed as a diversion to the country’s real dilemma, which is its disproportionately high rate of oil use. Americans guzzle up over twenty-five percent of the world’s total oil consumption. The United States should be working on making vehicles more fuel efficient so that a gallon of oil goes a long way rather than sucking the earth dry of all its oil. This fact, by itself, is seen as a more pertinent problem on which the country should focus instead of increasing available production. Another reason against the drilling in the Arctic region is that, even if the drilling is approved, there may not be as large yield as expected. All the statistics about how much

The approval of new oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters by the Obama administration in 2010 off the coast of Virginia, the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and various parts of the Atlantic sparked outrage among environmental activists, organizations and local mayors. So much so that the Obama administration decided to shelve Atlantic drilling altogether. Offshore oil drilling has been a controversial issue for nearly decades stemming from concerns about the impact of oil spills on marine life and our overall ecological environment. While, many would argue that the benefits of offshore drilling outweigh the risks, the truth of the matter is that in the long run the degradation caused by oil spills and its exacerbation in the factors leading to global warming make it a potential threat not only to the organisms living under the sea but deplete the earth of essential fossil fuels that may diminish faster than they can be replenished. The oil that is in abundance now, may not be there tomorrow. The argument against offshore oil drilling

Oil drilling is a phenomenon that’s been since the late 1850’s, and makes the oil as cheap as fifty dollars a barrel for consumers all around the world. Oil drilling first began in 1859 when George Bissell and Edwin L. made the first successful drilling rig on a well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Offshore drilling began in the late 1800’s and by 1897 the first offshore well was producing oil. When citizens think of offshore drilling the first thing that usually comes into mind is the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began on April 20, 2010. It killed 11 workers, and at least four species of marine animals were killed off from its effects (Offshore Drilling). Offshore drilling is a hazardous way to mine oil, and even though it may seem to

Thesis: I wish to share this information with you all today because it is up to us to end offshore drilling. If we all became more knowledgeable on the ramifications of offshore drilling, we could better know how to avoid it. I firstly want to address the significant environmental impacts of drilling, second the alternative we can employ instead of drilling, and lastly how we can try and prevent the same thing from happening in the future. I chose this topic because it is vital to the health of our planet’s oceans and the well-being of wildlife and humans. I conducted my research through online and academic means.

Not even covering the danger of accidents the process in which oil is drilled is dangers in itself to the environment. During the process of drilling offshore, “each drill well generates tens of thousands of gallons of waste drilling muds (materials used to lubricate drill bits and maintain pressure) and cuttings. Drilling muds contain toxic metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium that may bioaccumulate and biomagnify in marine organisms, including in our seafood supply.”(Natural Resources Defense Council 2009)

Prior to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, BP had a positive reputation for promoting corporate sustainability and creating sustainable energy. In the wake of the oil spill, however, BP proved that it was not on the right track despite the proclamation to its constituents of the exact opposite. There is a popular adage “almost doesn’t count.” BP’s investment in research directed toward minimizing negative environmental impact while conducting business and accomplishing major undertakings such as the Forties Field and Trans-Alaska pipelines was a move in the right direction. BP’s follow-through with the declarations the company made to its stakeholders was severely lacking, however, and proved to be detrimental. The company admitted to failures and oversight in its Risk Management sector such as failing to have a remote shut-off switch, cutting corners to save time and money, faulty wiring, a dead battery, a bent pipe, and its failure to closely monitor a company that had a history of being responsible for other oil spills and disasters among other faults. A 166-page report issued in 2014, four years after the spill, determined that both BP and Transocean failed to adequately inspect safety systems despite suggestions made to do so. Both companies opted to follow an industry standard which was not adequate. This decision was not in the best interest of affected parties and further proved to be injurious to BP. Numerous equipment issues were found in the

It's very easy to pile onto BP right now. The "accident," which may be due more to negligence, is bad enough. The company lost 11 employees — after losing 15 in a high-profile explosion at a refinery 5 years ago. The damage to the Gulf, its species, and the people who depend on it is almost incalculable. But surprisingly, it's even easier to criticize BP's behaviour since the explosion — the company has tried hard to downplay the scale of the tragedy and it has moved slowly to stop the torrent of oil pouring into the Gulf.

In this paper we explore the implications of BP's strategy after the Deepwater Horizon incident in terms of the public perception as well as how this may impact upon their performance and the strategic implication of the Deepwater Horizon Accident on BP's performance

It is almost impossible to deny that a lot of things went wrong in the communication concerning the explosion of the platform and the following oil spill of the British oil concern BP. In the first instance, BP denied there was oil leaking out of the oil well. After that BP trivialized the consequences of the ecocatastrophe. Even the CEO Tony Hayward made some dull statements. What did BP do wrong?

process, which BP ultimately administered, disregarding health, safety and environmental conditions. During the crisis, BP purchased search terms to control the online search links to place the BP response page as a top hit (Kerin et al., 2015). There was an anthropomorphizing of the corporate brand personality when BP’s chief executive officer, Tony Haywood not only became the face and voice of BP, but was BP. Full-page advertisements were corporate’s marketing response featuring it’s pro-environmental green sunburst logo. Announcing, “We will make it right” before the well was even capped (Balmer et al, 2011, p. 11). Tony Hayward, the face of BP day in and day out inflamed the public against the corporation with his off-the-cuff remark, “I’d like my life back.” The tone was flippant and his other responses became obscure with frustration (“¬Deepwater”, 2015). A New Orleans federal judge ruled BP’s gross negligence, and willful misconduct caused the oil spill in the Gulf; the recklessness of the actions made them 67 percent culpable, Transocean 30 percent liable and Halliburton 3 percent accountable and subject to $20.8 billion fines (Mufson, 2014, p.1). The tremendous clean-up costs and fines as well as the substantial damage to their reputation indicates that the decisions made by BP were detrimental to the corporation’s success (Lin-Hi and Blumberg, 2011, p 575).

Since the past few decades, owning a car has become a necessity in order to commute from one place to another. However, cars do not work automatically, they require fuel. Since the past decade, the petroleum industry has become one of the leading industries impacting the nation’s economy. Oil has become an essential commodity as it is utilized in transportation vehicles, serves as a raw material for manufacturing plastics, and is utilized in homes for cooking. America’s economy is greatly dependent on petroleum as it is the “black gold” of the nation. The considerable significance of oil has led to the drilling of it, which is not only limited to land, but also the oceans. Offshore drilling is a method in which petroleum is extracted from underneath the seabed. It is one of the significant technological advancements in the past few decades. However, the ones who are involved in the process of offshore oil production are humans, and humans tend to make mistakes. In 1969, due to a human error, an oil spill occurred and natural gas, oil, and mud shot up the well and oozed into the ocean (“Offshore Drilling”). The oil spilled led to an environmental disaster which killed thousands of marine animals and distorted the environment. In order to prevent the same error, the government passed a moratorium in 1981, banning more than 85 percent of the country’s oil drilling sites (“Offshore Drilling”). The moratorium restricted the United States to mass-produce its natural resource.

In 1956, Shell Petroleum discovered oil in commercial quantity in Nigeria. Within a decade, oil exploration speedily replaced agriculture as the mainstay of the country’s economy. In 2006, roughly 97 percent of exchange revenue and about 80 percent of all government expenditures came from petroleum proceeds . The Niger Delta region is located at the southernmost part of Nigeria and comprises of nine states; Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Rivers State, Abia, Imo and Ondo states. The region constitutes 7.5% of Nigeria’s land mass, yet it is “the nerve center of Nigeria’s oil industry” as it produces 100% of its oil and gas and generates more than 80% of all revenues . Aside the Niger Delta’s huge fossil fuel reserves, its numerous rivers, streams and fertile lands make fishing, farming and hunting the major economic activities of the natives .