The Exploration Of British Petroleum

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 resulted in considerable damage to the environment, economy and human livelihoods. While BP, as one of the parties involved in the operation of the oil drilling on Deepwater Horizon rig, suffered huge financial loss and reputation loss, it was found to be the one to be mostly blamed due to its lack of risk management. As poor risk management can lead to an astonishing disaster like this, it appears to be necessary for every business to learn from BP’s mistakes and try the best to prevent such disaster from happening again. This report studies this case, focusing on two issues identified in BP’s risk management practices, namely its sloppy preparation for risks and its inappropriate communication strategy after the crisis happened. No evidence showed that BP had a sufficient emergency plan for the worst-case deep-water oil spill although the depth of the oil drilling was one of the deepest. BP’s unseriousness towards safety was also indicated in their attempt to shift blames to its contractors and the unaccountability shown by the words of BP’s executives during interviews. Based on the examination of BP’s deficiency in risk management, the lessons that can be learned from it are discussed. In brief, firstly, accurate risk assessment and appropriate emergency plan should be available before the operation is started. Secondly, post-crisis communication should show the world that the company cares and is accountable

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 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

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

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

We have no mention of the well site leaking for two years after the well was supposedly "sealed." Oil was found as far away as Florida and while BP were subject to nearly $46 billion in fines and penalties, no one from the company has served any jail time for criminal negligence in the matter to date.

British Petroleum has a large operation in the United States and it has made investments to ensure that it develops these operations to maximize its production and increase profits. One such investment was the acquisition of the vast oil field at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. This acquisition represented a good increase in the percentage of oil production in the United States and ensured that the company could increase its production and further its goals and objectives for the United States market. As early as 2001 there were incidents at the facility that the company internally accounted for and management was made aware of the safety concerns that existed.

BP made several mistakes over the time period following the Gulf Oil Spill. The early comments by CEO Tony Hayward that the environmental impacts of the spill were “very, very modest” was the initial mistake. This was followed by the embarrassing fact that BP digitally altered some of the photos of the spill operation on the company website. I think they should have been honest with the public. We all know they messed up, so it is important to be transparent. When crises like this happen it usually calls for a change in top management. The BP chief executive at the time became a lightning rod for America’s anger with his choice of flashy pin-stripped suits, which many believed reflected an inappropriate tone for the matters at hand. I personally would

According to the individualistic business theory which highlighted that a company’s only obligation is to generate revenue. And for that it can do whatever it takes to make an income, keeping themselves within the legal restrictions. For this case, BP claimed that there is nothing unethical as the mishap was due to mechanical failure. A specific part, failed to use the reservoir which contain hydrocarbons and it eventually led to the explosions. If the workers knew the situation and did not respond to fix it, it would be considered unethical behavior. But since they had no

The backlash came hard and swift. The view from the general public seemed that BP did not do enough in the initial response of the oil spill. It seemed like the company had a systemic systematic approach to business that resulted in myriad environmental and worker safety violations (Citizen.org, n.d). British Petroleum was a repeat corporate criminal and the consensus seemed to believe this company would take shortcuts and risk human safety for business profit. It seemed as though this company did not have categorical imperative to act with responsibility to the environment or its worker’s safety. Some blame the company’s lack of business ethics came from an ethical relativism that resides from the company’s home country of Britain. In today’s global

Beyond Petroleum (BP) formerly British Petroleum is a company that claims to be devoted to finding new energy sources with little impact on the environment. Ferrell, Fraderich, and Ferrell, explain in their Business Ethics textbook in 2012 that after several environmental tragedies in the mid-to late 2000’s, the company had to reassess their ethical standards and make changes to repair their image and regain the confidence of their stakeholders. During this time, they began investing in wind, solar, biofuels, and many other new types of energy sources. They also created programs to educate citizens and stakeholders about environmental awareness. Most importantly, though, they also tasked their ethics and compliance team with creating a code of conduct policy and communicate it out to every employee (p.343-345). Considering that BP is a worldwide company, with employees of diverse languages and cultures, this was a very difficult task to complete. Not only would it be a challenge to communicate the new code of conduct out to each employee, but it was even more difficult for the company to enforce it. Because of the lack of understanding on how to deal with ethical dilemmas, managers and employees within the company did not complete proper risk assessment, leading to the worst oil spill in U.S. History. This would come to be known as the Deepwater Horizon spill. BP commonly outsources machinery and companies to complete certain tasks. They did in this case by hiring an oil rig

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).

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).

In addition, BP was convicted of a felony due to their violation of the Clean Air Act. The judge fined BP $50 million and put them on probation for three years. OSHA fined BP the largest fine in OSHA's history, $87 million due to two hundred seventy safety violations that they never fixed along with four hundred thirty nine new violations. Previously, twenty years preceding, BP partnered with Exxon in Alaska's Prudoe Bay oilfield when the Exxon Valdez oil spill occured. BP and Exxon shared the trans-Atlantic pipeline ownership which is referred to as Alyeska. Some important documents had been leaked to Congress and the news media, which stated Alyeska did not fulfill promises to contain spills. Chuck Hamel was the chief suspect in the leakage of the documents. Hamel had also complained to management at BP about corrosion of the pipes and concerns about the workers safety (Jennings, 2009, p 409). Hamel stated that "...workers were asked to skimp on the use of anticorrosion chemicals in the pipe because of expense." (Jennings, 2009, p 409). Hamel then proceeded to take his complaints

On April 20, 2010, a semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded after a blowout and sank two days later, killing eleven people and causing a massive oil spill threatening the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Florida. The rig is owned and operated by Transocean Ltd on behalf of BP, which is the majority owner of the oil field. The company originally estimated the size of the leak