Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The Context
Before the occurrence of the Deepwater Horizon event, BP had already been labelled as having a horrible safety record. A 2009 report by the United States Department of Labour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Todd & Petterson , 2009), indicated that BP had 270 existing fines of a ‘failure to abate’ and 439 ‘wilful violations’ of various safety protocols.
At the time of the disaster the regulators of the oil industry in the United States was the Material Management Service. This department was known for their ‘misconduct, unethical conduct, and unlawful activities’ (Hogue, 2010).
This Case Study aims to look at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from the view of how BP and the US government
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The Catastrophe
In February 2010, the Deepwater Horizon began the task of drilling a well in Macondo Prospect of the Gulf of Mexico (Group, 2011). Once this was completed, the task of cementing the hole in order seal the well bore from the reservoir sand (BP, 2010). At 8:00 PM on April 20, 2010, while preparing to temporary abandon the well, the BP Accident Investigation report (BP, 2010) states that there was a negative pressure inside the well causing it to flow. While this occurs, BP (BP, 2010) states, the lighter seawater that replaced the mud inside the column should have decreased the pressure. By 9:40 PM, mud had overflowed onto the floor of the Deepwater Horizon and then through the Derrick (BP, 2010). Following this, the blowout preventer was activated to stop the flow, however this had not worked. Gas had then leaked out, which resulted in an explosion, causing significant damage to the oil platform. BP (BP, 2010) also believed that the damaged Blowout preventer continued to fuel the fire with gas after the initial explosion.
As a result of this, the explosion had resulted in the deaths of eleven personnel and the dispersal of nearly five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico (Pallardy, 2014).
There was also an immediate response by the United States congress in the legislation governing oil and gas operations. According to a Congressional Research Service report (Hagerty & Jonathan , 2014), the 111th Congress had held over ’60 hearings’
The staff of the BP Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore drilling Commission said in a report delivered said, BP “did not have policies and systems in place to ensure that decisions made to reduce costs and improve efficiency do not increase risks or diminish safety”. The management of this
In 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, causing millions of barrels of crude oil to be leaked out into the Gulf of Mexico. The extensive oil spill created a lot of pollution and far-reaching effects on the tourism industry. The resultant damage to marine wildlife such as fish will continue to be felt for many years to come. Weeks after the event, and while it was still in progress, the Deep Water Horizon oil spill was being discussed as a disaster that will impact global economies, markets, and mining policies. The potential consequences included structural shifts in energy policy, insurance marketplaces and risk assessment, and financial liabilities to be incurred by BP. The law that affected the operation of BP’s business was the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge of pollutants in US’s waters (EPA, 2008). Following the oil spill, regulations have been put in place to regulate oil drilling operations. The Obama administration proposed new regulations on offshore oil and gas drilling. The regulation focused on oil and gas drilling companies to use stronger blowout Preventers that have the capability to close an offshore well in case a drilling breach occurred accidentally.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred because “oil from the well shot up and out of the drill column under high pressure, extended on the drilling rig and exploded (wikipedia)”. The rig set on fire and later sank. BP, Transocean, along with government agency employer, all worked hard to avoid further spread of the oil.
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill was the largest spill in history in front of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This oil spill released about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. This spill not only wreck havoc on the marine life but also the economic players that depended on ocean such as fisherman, tourism, and offshore drilling located along the gulf coast. Along will the spill the oil rig which was named Deepwater Horizon also went up in flames. This proved that the issue went far beyond just an oil rig that blew a line. Since this oil spill had drastic impacts all along the coast, BP which was the most liable for this incident faced criminal charges based on what happened. BP which knew the risks of deep ocean drilling failed to take the necessary safety procedures to reduce the risks of such incident occurring, thus was the reasoning behind placing most of the fault on them and not the other companies. The lack of regulatory oversight led to the issues and cost-cutting procedures opened the rig up to possible malfunctions like the one that occurred. During the spill into the gulf, BP sealed the well with cement which seemed to stop a majority of the oil from escaping the well. BP also recognized that the well was “dead” which was proven wrong when scientists still could conclude was leaking minor amounts of oil into the ocean. This spill not only proved to be harmful to the environment but also
Margaret Brown's take a glance at the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil fix disaster and its continuous impacts along the Gulf Coast is a dry out, it records the angering record of corporate eagerly desirous of the people,the the residents of the Gulf of Mexico, show to be really affected and has gone up against their natural lives and wanting to survive.
MEJRI, Mohamed, and Daniel DE WOLF. 2013. "Crisis Management: Lessons Learnt From The BP Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil". Business Management And Strategy 4 (2): 67. doi:10.5296/bms.v4i2.4950.
The eventual buildup to the BP oil spill started during the Bush Administration. The Bush Administration's oil demand and antigovernment sensibility soiled the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the agency charged with regulating offshore drilling. Vice President Dick Cheney had presided over the weakening of drilling regulations, including the exclusion of remote-shut-off switches which might have prevented the disaster. Soon, MMS was nothing but a shell of its former shell filled with corruption and political influence. In a 2008 report it was found that the agency's regulators were taking gifts from, and having sex with the employees of, the companies they were supposed to be monitoring. Furthermore, the
There were a number of causes for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, most of which had more to do with the human element that with any technology itself. The four biggest ways that humans contributed to the disaster, as explained by journalist David Coburn, was the fact that British Petroleum’s (BP) past success built a sense of complacency, the shifting the burden of proof, the normalization of deviance and the fact that promoters for an industry also serve as that industry’s regulatory enforcers.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also known as the BP oil spill was located in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. This was the largest due to the impact it had on the environment. The oil company British Petroleum, chartered a mobile drilling rig that was drilling a deep exploratory well thousands of feet below the sea level. The rig was located in the Macondo Prospect in the Mississippi Canyon. The spill was first discovered when large amounts of oil were starting to spread around the rig site. This leak is considered to be one of the worst human inflicted disasters to have ever taken place. It has been an important topic in both political and economic discussions and an extremely costly event. BP has taken the blame for the spill, but a problem with the rig was what initiated the disaster when methane from the well rose into the rig and ignited it. This could have been avoided if there were more safety regulations in place and a better security net. Both the government and oil companies should ensure their equipment and drilling methods are completely safe before putting the environment at such risk.
“After the Spill is gone: The Gulf of Mexico, Environmental Crime, and the Criminal Law [dagger]” covers the deep water oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico that took place on April 20, 2010. The most devastating spill to our environment, causing the death of eleven people and three months of oil gushing into our waters harming our environment. There was an estimated 4.9 million barrels (approximately 200 million gallons) of oil spilled. This law review relates to the reading in the Effective Human Relations book, Twelfth Edition, by showing us corporate crime, ethics, morals and whistle-blowing. Environmental and corporate business peaks my interests and is why I chose this review.
The Legal Issues and Ethical Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and British Petroleum Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010
The objective of this paper is to showcase and explain the costs and losses of the explosion and sinking of the Deep Water Horizon Drilling Platform owned by Transocean and leased by BP Oil and the sea-floor oil gusher that flowed through 87 days in the Gulf of Mexico. We will showcase the costs and loses from the beginning of the disaster, which was in April 20th to until the oil flusher was capped on, which was in July 15th. Moreover, we will show the consequences and legal actions that were taken after the disaster occurred to minimize damages and loses caused by the disaster.
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).
On April 20, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history. As a result, a huge loss of money and life was caused and affected serious environmental damage to wild animals and water pollution. BP was accused of their irresponsibility that it took 87 days before the well was closed and sealed. BP’s shares
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).