The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

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.

If the oil spill is very big than it could take months to get out all of the oil because it really depends on how fast you also clean it. If the spill is very little than it may just take days to clean up to the spill. One big way to clean up a big oil spill is something called the “Skimmer” this is a machine that goes through the water and it collects oil and removes it but sometimes the Skimmer collects oil and saves it because not all of the oil that is in the water is bad. But, the oil that is bad is taken out and removed completely. Another method to take out oil is something called the “Boom” this is a barrier that traps oil inside the barrier and it reduces to pollute shorelines and other resources around it, and it also makes the water recover faster to make it normal once again. At the same time oil skimmers cost a pretty good amount to, it starts at 194.99 dollars for one machine and since the spill was in a pond you would need a lot of these skimmers to clean all of the oil. You could use another big method to clean up the oil is “bioremediation” this is a place where it's a waste management area, therefore you could use this to clean up all of the bacteria and oil, but there is also a really big cost to clean all of the oil. For 1 cubic yard it costs around 50 dollars, so this shows that if you have a

1.2 million dollars. Now they were opening a second refinery and opened a third firm in New York to handle overseas sales. Although they had high income, the unstable ways of the industry worried Rockefeller. With new discoveries of oil sources, prices were dropping (Krasner). Producers, refiners, manufacturers, brokers, and shippers were all fighting to be on top. Within this chaos, Rockefeller had a brilliant plan. His plan would bring the organization and efficiency that he believed the oil industry needed to survive (Frost). In 1866, he formed the Standard Oil Company.

Rockefeller set up “pools” of multiple businesses that fixed prices and production quotas, and by 1879, had seized 90% of the oil refining capacity. He established the Standard Oil Trust in 1882 creating an umbrella company which controlled forty oil companies, and an arrangement of stockholders who held trust certificates. Through this absorption and cooperative management of rival companies, Rockefeller controlled the petroleum industry horizontally as well as vertically through control of costs and

John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil company, and became one of the wealthiest men in the world, propelling America into a new frontier. In the 19th century, kerosene was highly demanded, and there were small kerosene manufacturing companies all over the United States. Rockefeller’s early life was no near the upbringing of a billionaire. His father began as a peddler working to make ends meet as his mother raised his brothers and sisters. He was given a $100 loan to buy a small boat, but by 1870, he established the Standard Oil company. In only 10 years, Rockefeller owned 90% of the U.S’s oil refineries. During this time, many accused Rockefeller as participating in unethical business practices. He collaborated with major railroads to eliminate his competition and used predatory pricing as well as horizontal integration to monopolize the entire oil industry. In 1886, Rockefeller took out a loan to buy

Oil covered everything: beaches, animals, plants, bottoms of boats. Approximately 205.8 million gallons of oil leaked into the ocean and toward the Louisiana shoreline. To put the amount in perspective, that oil could be used to drive a Toyota Prius around the earth 184,181 times (Repanich). All of this pollution and destruction because of one singular company: British Petroleum. Needless to say, the image of BP was tarnished because of this. What can a company do to come back from such a serious setback? This was the question that was faced by the company in 2010 (when the spill occurred), and is still being wrestled with today. By analyzing BP’s “Commitment to the Gulf” ad campaign, the brand’s desired identity is made very apparent. When it comes to oil, nearly all consumers are involved. However, BP does take specific steps in order to narrow down a target audience when it comes to advertising its product. Despite the hardships faced by BP stemming from the spill, consumers still have an addiction to oil. BP, the fourth largest oil company in the world (“Biggest Oil”), has such a firm hold on consumer society that it is a necessity in today’s consumer landscape. By pushing the brand’s identity to its target audience, BP used branding to overcome a severe controversy and rebuild the image it hoped to convey to consumers.

John Davison Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil Company in 1870 and ran it until he retired in 1897. Standard Oil gained almost complete control over the oil refining market in the United States by underselling its competitors. Rockefeller and his associates owned dozens of corporations operating in just one state.

The Standard Oil Trust of Ohio was and American oil producing, refining, and transporting company. It was founded in 1863 by John D. Rockefeller and lasted until 1911. During 1868, Rockefeller expanded the oil company to become the largest oil refining company in the world. In 1870, the company was renamed Standard Oil Company. After it was renamed, Rockefeller purchased most of the oil companies that were currently in business to make one large company.

The Oil Pollution Act was established in 1990 in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989. The Oil Pollution Act placed the Federal Government in charge of management and control of oil spills, control of containment, removal and clean up efforts. This law holds who ever is deemed responsible for the oil spill to pay for the damages, containment, and clean up of the oil spill. In accordance with OPA90, an oil spill must be reported to the Federal Government. Upon reporting the oil spill to the government, BP reported that the well was leaking 1,000 barrels a day when it was discharging upwards of 40,000 barrels a day. Every deep-water drilling company is required to have what is called a contingency plan. A contingency plan

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

On April 20, 2010, one of the most horrific accidents occurred in regards to the oil and gas industry. An oil rig exploded not far off the coast of Louisiana. People were injured and even killed. Thick, brown oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, destroying beaches and wildlife. Researchers and scientists were forced to find new ways to clean up the oil, in a quick and efficient manner. The immediate and lasting effects of the BP oil spill having caused numerous issues both physically and emotionally. BP has faced consequences for their mistakes and they have since made multiple changes to better the safety and quality of their company to prevent problems like these to happen again. Society should take a look at what happened during and after the oil spill and learn from the experience. I learned a lot about the topic after writing this research paper, and I have a new respect for the people that work in the oil and gas industry. I had no idea how much they risk every time they step foot on an oil rig.

This paper will explain some of the effects of three legal issues and three ethical issues surrounding the London-based British Petroleum Company’s involvement in the explosion of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico. There are many legal issues surrounding this disaster, but the three this paper will focus on are the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, maritime laws, and criminal charges

The damage caused by the spill is almost immeasurable; ecological, political, economic, social it almost devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast fishing and tourism industries. Even in January 2011 a report was made by oil-spill experts from the University of Georgia stating that tar balls continue to wash up on beaches, collect in shrimp nets, kill marsh grass, and even undegraded oil in the seabed (Dykes, 2011). It will likely be years, if not decades, before the final assessment of damage, short-term and long-term, is accurately noted from this disaster.

As of March 28, there were still 217 vessels and 2,349 personnel working on cleaning up the spill. 3,474 kilometres of containment and absorbent boom were deployed against the spreading oil slick on August 2nd. 411 in-situ burns conducted (which burned 265,450 barrels of oil) and 1.4 million barrels of liquid waste collected.

The oil industry can not be discussed without mentioning the name John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller changed the business of oil distribution. In the 19th century Rockefeller began his humble beginnings with a small investment, along with two other partners, in the oil refining business. Eventually Rockefeller upset at the direction of the company bought out his partners. He was now buying into refining and developing kerosene and other petroleum-based products. He later named this company The Standard Oil Company which by 1872 nearly owned all the oil refineries in Cleveland. In 1882, Rockefeller took all his holdings and merged them into the Standard Oil Trust. Through smart business