Introduction 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. The series of ethical issues that took place leading to the disaster are complex, and other factors such as economic and political issues arose after the catastrophe happened. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ethical issues that took place before the disaster happened, and investigate the moral obligations, social responsibility and justice at an individual and organizational level. The ethical dilemma is broken down into three categories, which include the company’s management priority to reduce costs and time, neglecting safety issues addressed by staff, human misjudgment and errors in neglecting pressure reading; and finally, overlooking the technical design flaws that were not tested by BP before installing to use. The
Deepwater horizon oil spill, also known as a BP oil spill. The spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. On April 20, 2010 “An oil well in the Gulf of Mexico failed, causing what has been called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and taking the
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
BP has experienced several disaster events in their history that has damaged their reputation with the community. Most of these disasters have ended up costing the communities and the environments within them the most. BP is taking a stand against global warming to find alternate means of energy that will not be hurtful to the environment as well as maintaining a role in the clean-up of the spill areas (Thorne, 2010). With the fluidity of the Gulf of Mexico environment, we may never know the scope of the devastation caused by the spill. However, BP is doing what they can to clean up the environment affected by the spill in the Alaskan waters. During the winter months, BP sends a team to Alaska to continue the clean-up efforts and return
BP is one of the largest company producer in both oil and natural gas in the United States, venturing on exploration and discovery, Deepwater drilling and gas supply chains. On April 20th 2010, 11 men lost their lives after an explosion on the semi-submersible drilling on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig working on the Macondo exploration well for BP in the Gulf of Mexico. The well blowout and subsequent oil spill pumped 3.2 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico the biggest marine disaster in US history. The fire burned for 36 hours before the rig sank, and the hydrocarbons leaked into the Gulf of Mexico before the well was closed and sealed. After the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil
This article refers to the Gulf oil spill reached its don 't-just-stand-there moment. . Every day, the White House responded with updates and briefings. The White House has belatedly gotten the message, announcing new drilling regulations and scheduling the president 's second trip to the Gulf on Friday.
1. Originally, an Ethics and Compliance team was formed to monitor the formation and operation of the company guidance towards ethical issues in BP’s company. Just like to set up a communication consistent standard for all the employees of BP for different location, culture and language. Originally, this is a good way to guide the company staff to maintain company standard and reputation. But the code did not effectively address specific high-risk activities for the scope of daily operations. It was quite reasonable because at the very beginning stage of drafting the related guidelines, not every experience or assumed circumstancs were fully considered in the daily operations. Unfortunately, after the spill happened, several reports have
BP is a company that delivers energy products around the world through the exploration and refinements of natural resources. The company is also known as one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies that competes with other major household names such as ExxonMobil and Chevron. Because many of these large
In 2010 on April 20th the Gulf of Mexico had seen the worst environmental disaster the world had ever seen. It started as an explosion on a BP oil rig that took the lives of 11 people and injuring 17 while leaking "...at least 3 million barrels of oil..." (Bryant & Hunter, 2010, para. 2 This was not the first accident that has happened to BP but, certainly the most costly. In 2005 there was an explosion at a refinery in Texas that killed 15 and injured over 180 people (Bryant & Hunter, 2010). They ended up paying over "...2 billion in damages and lawsuits" (Bryant & Hunter, 2010, para. 5). With the 2005 incident, BP had cut costs in their operating budget and also lowered the safety standards of the company (Bryant & Hunter, 2010). There
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.
On Aril 20th, 2010, an explosion occurred at BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion killed 11 workers and created a massive oil spill 5000 feet below the surface that continued for 87 days. The leak would grow to be the worst accidental marine oil spill in history invading 600 miles of coastline, killing thousands of birds, fish, and other marine animals, and invading wetlands and marshes (Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill). Estimates for how much oil was actually released vary but analysis by experts later indicated that approximately 53,000 barrels or 2.27 million gallons of oil leaked out per day. Although the oil rig was leased by BP, a company named Transocean owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon. A third party, Halliburton, performed the cementing procedure, which was cited as one of the two main causes of the explosion (Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill). Attempts at capping the leak failed many times but engineers finally succeeded on July 15 and officially sealed the well on September 19. Containment and cleanup efforts were arranged by BP and the Coast Guard. Incident Command Posts were created in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida to oversee offshore containment and onshore response. Marine protection booms were installed, ships
BP, known as British Petroleum until it rebranded to Beyond Petroleum in 2000, is the third largest energy company in the world. BP has operations on six continents, located in over 80 countries, with its main headquarters located in London, UK. Its largest operating division is BP America, which is located in Houston, Texas. The Deepwater Horizon was a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries the rig was leased to BP from 2001 until September 2013. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, an uncontrollable blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on April 22, the Horizon sank, leaving the well leaking at the seabed.
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
British petroleum (BP) is one of the seven super major oil company in the world. BP are the fourth largest gas and oil company in the world. BP has a hand in every aspect of the oil business from exploring for new oil to marketing and distribution. BP originally started as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908, established as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company. The Burmah Oil Company. Would capitalize on discoveries they made in Iran and the middle east. The company would take its current name as British a petroleum in 1954. The company slowly started to expand from their roots in the middle east. BP chose to expand to Alaska in 1965. BP would continue their expansion in America when the gain the majority control of Standard Oil of Ohio in 1978. Also during the time BP would continue their ongoing exploration for new sources of oil. They became the first company to strike oil in the North Sea. The British government gradually privatized Standard Oil of Ohio for 1978-1987. In the last half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century BP took two major steps to expand their company. BP first major expansion occurred when they partnered with Amoco during this time they also acquired and absorbed Burmah Castrol in 2000. Also for 2003 to 2013 BP had a joint partnership with the oil company TNK of Russia. BP tireless effort towards expansion have made them highly successful and one of the top four oil and gas companies in the world. BP turned a profit of 6.48 billon U.S.
In the month of April 2010, Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 workers and releasing oil from the well into an ocean. This paper will discuss BP management, ethical and social behavior. BP along with a few of its partners Transocean and Halliburton was involved in the gulf oil spill. The explosion of the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon was the root cause of the oil spill. This paper will focus on BP organization behavioral issues that caused the economic, environmental, and human losses. The research further focuses on what BP leadership could have done as a precautionary measure using highest ethics and management behavior.