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BP's Gulf Oil Problem

Frederick

By Frederick,
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Gluestick Collaborator

Gluestick

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[quote user="Clarkkent"][quote user="Quillan"][quote user="Clarkkent"]

When the blame for this catastrophe is apportioned, how much will be attributed to American motorists who want to drive their gas guzzlers using absurdly cheap fuel?

[/quote]

More to the point whilst BP are paying for all this out of their own pocket I keep getting the feeling that somebody else is going to have to pay in the end, no guessing on who thats going to be. [+o(]

[/quote]

I hope that it will be the shareholders.

The retail supply of  fuel to motorists is a pretty cut-throat activity and petrol is seen by many motorists as a commodity product. Most purchase decisions are made on the basis of price and brand loyalty is low. Any attempt by BP to recover its losses at the pumps would probably result in a catastrophic reduction in sales.

[/quote]

The most immediate "Payers" are in point of fact those buying private and corporate pensions: and extant pension recipients.

Since BP stock is a core asset in pensions funds portfolios: as it's considered a "Bell Weather" investment.

This point has already been discussed in the financial press.

Funds have been hard hit by loss of capital value as the stock price plummeted and income expectancy, as forward dividends are threatened: that said, BP have already annoucned their dividends will continue.

Perhaps...........

Depends really on the final bill Pres. Obama hands BP.

 

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Clarkkent Newbie

Clarkkent

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For me, one of the most contentious expressions in modern business is "delivering shareholder value". It seems to mean little more than driving down costs to enable the maximisation of dividends. The involvement of shareholders in guiding management activity often seems minimal. (Kraft's takeover of Cadbury was facilitated by "investors" piling in to buy shares after the Kraft bid in order to make a quick buck. They became shareholders for a brief period and were purely opportunistic and had no interest in the company. They gave Cadbury nothing but took away a lot.)

In the case of BP, the company, under Lord Browne, had followed a policy of outsourcing activity wherever possible. The rig for the Macondo well, the Deepwater Horizon, was owned and operated by a Swiss company, Transocean Ltd. The rig itself operated under a flag of convenience - the Marshall Islands. The crew of the rig were employed by Transocean. BP owned the rights to the well but subcontracted drilling and extraction.

No doubt this arrangement received the approval of the pension funds and other investors for whom BP is a bellwether investment. If that is the case then these investment organisations are as responsible as BP for encouraging cost and corner cutting. They should bear their part in this tragedy. If that means that pensioners may suffer then that is a consequence of investing organisations forgetting that they should insist that good governance means owing responsibility to all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

BP, in the USA, are perceived as an environmentally careless company - not only are they responsible for the Macondo well disaster (including the deaths of people on the platform when it exploded) but also the Prudhoe Bay spill and the Texas City Refinery explosion.

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AnOther Rookie

AnOther

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Valid comments but although BP are one of the bigger players pretty much the same can be said for just about every FTSE 100 company who are driven by the profit at any cost ethos. We little people at the end of the food chain are not entirely fre of responsible for that of course.

In the UK North Sea arena BP are firmly in the lower ranks of the safety league.

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pachapapa Newbie

pachapapa

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[quote user="nomoss"]

Just in case anyone wants to see what's actually happening, as opposed to mostly drivel in the media:-

http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9033572&contentId=7061710

Fairly clear explanations with animated diagrams, live pictures from 12 ROVs

 

[/quote]

[IMG]http://www.drillfloor.com/the%20driller%27s%20club.jpg[/IMG]

If anyone wants to get an independent non BP accent on the events a visit to the Drillers Club Forum may be of interest.

The Macondo Blowout thread is particularly informative; the link will open at the current latest page which is page 52 but the previous 51 pages give a detailed and authorative account of the saga.

http://drillingclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wellcontrol&action=display&thread=4837&page=52

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pachapapa Newbie

pachapapa

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The BP Technical Briefing by Kent Wells dated yesterday 07 June is worth a look.

There are two links below; the first opens the Audio Recording and the second opens a PDF file with the 6 slides used to illustrate the briefing.

Both links have to be opened to follow the slides and audio.

http://bp.concerts.com/gom/audio/kentwells_technical_07062010.htm

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/incident_response/STAGING/local_assets/downloads_pdfs/Technical_Update_LMRP_Cap_ongoing_v2.pdf

At the end of the Formal Briefing there is a Q&A session.

The complete session lasts for 32:29 minutes.

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allanb Newbie

allanb

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[quote user="Clarkkent"]I think that where everything is concentrated on "the bottom line", capitalism red in tooth and claw is as ruthless as Stalinism or Maoism.[/quote]A crucial difference is that in a capitalist system there is usually also a legal system, and if a capitalist harms you, you can take action to recover damages.  The capitalist knows this, which gives him an incentive to be careful.

If you are harmed by a state-run operation under Stalinism or Maoism, you're out of luck.

There are many things wrong with tort law, especially in the USA, but I think we are better off with it than we would be without it.  

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pachapapa Newbie

pachapapa

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Oh Dear the saga now moves from the sublime to the ridiculous. The bean counters + Mayor Boris gang up on Obama to attempt to deflect criticism of a particularly inept BRITISH petroleum CEO; perhaps he is not inept maybe just unlucky to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Obama has his faults but his opinion of Hayward is spot on.
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pachapapa Newbie

pachapapa

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[quote user="pachapapa"]Oh Dear the saga now moves from the sublime to the ridiculous. The bean counters + Mayor Boris gang up on Obama to attempt to deflect criticism of a particularly inept BRITISH petroleum CEO; perhaps he is not inept maybe just unlucky to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Obama has his faults but his opinion of Hayward is spot on.[/quote]

Looks like Nancy has got the right vibes with the BRITISH company, a shrewd lady with a good turn of phrase...

"It is clear that there was a lack of integrity on the part of BP when it came to what it told us about the adequacy of their technology, the sufficiency of blow-out prevention and the capacity to clean up," Speaker Pelosi said.

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nomoss Newbie

nomoss

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It seems to be forgotten (or maybe not even known in the case of this Forum) that the well was being drilled under contract to BP by a US company under US regulation with US equipment, cementing done by a US contractor (Halliburton, not unconnected with Dick Cheyney).

But I don't think the boy from Michigan is about to mess with the good ol' boys from Texas...

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pachapapa Newbie

pachapapa

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[quote user="nomoss"]

It seems to be forgotten (or maybe not even known in the case of this Forum) that the well was being drilled under contract to BP by a US company under US regulation with US equipment, cementing done by a US contractor (Halliburton, not unconnected with Dick Cheyney).

But I don't think the boy from Michigan is about to mess with the good ol' boys from Texas...

[/quote]

I would presume that the Lone Star State boys will be planning actions for damages due to the consequential damages derived from the halt to their operations caused by BRITISH petroleum.

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nomoss Newbie

nomoss

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Heres a photo of a US drilling company contracted to a US oil company producing a well straight into the Persian Gulf.

I wonder why the US are not too popular over there?

I took the photo because I couldn't believe we were actually doing it.

Edit: can't get the link to work.

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powerdesal Newbie

powerdesal

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[quote user="nomoss"]

Heres a photo of a US drilling company contracted to a US oil company producing a well straight into the Persian Gulf.

I wonder why the US are not too popular over there?

I took the photo because I couldn't believe we were actually doing it.

Edit: can't get the link to work.

[/quote]

I guess that would be the ARABIAN Gulf then ??????

nb. The Arabs on this side of the water dont call it the Persian Gulf.
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nomoss Newbie

nomoss

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[quote user="pachapapa"] I would presume that the Lone Star State boys will be planning actions for damages due to the consequential damages derived from the halt to their operations caused by BRITISH petroleum.[/quote]

Why do you keep writing BRITISH in caps - does your caps lock stick due to your anger?

Anyway, the company is called "BP" and is multinational, not British, so please get your facts correct.

If you want to go back into the company's history, you could write IRANIAN.

 

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pachapapa Newbie

pachapapa

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[quote user="nomoss"]

[quote user="pachapapa"] I would presume that the Lone Star State boys will be planning actions for damages due to the consequential damages derived from the halt to their operations caused by BRITISH petroleum.[/quote]

Why do you keep writing BRITISH in caps - does your caps lock stick due to your anger?

Anyway, the company is called "BP" and is multinational, not British, so please get your facts correct.

If you want to go back into the company's history, you could write IRANIAN.

 

[/quote]

Very simply because the night before last I was watching, on Sky News, a sprat called RANDLE interviewing a bean-counter called NAYPIOR who took exception to President Obama using the word. All this took place before the Auntie Beeb did something similar the next day.  Does it annoy you and the NAYPIOR chappie? Would you like a TEE SHIRT.[:D]

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Will Newbie

Will

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BP hasn't stood for British Petroleum since 1987, when the British Government sold the last of the shares it held in the company, and BP bought Standard Oil outright, forming BP America. Later, Amoco, Arco, Burmah-Castrol and Aral joined, making it a true multinational. The group headquarters are in England, but the chairman is Swedish, the executive board members a mix of British and American. The non-executive directors are almost all British though.

One problem with Americans is that they always want to blame somebody else, and preferably be compensated, for their ills.

I presume that if the US government continues to insist on BP paying out, then the governments of the rest of the world will be seeking compensation from the USA for the effects of the sub-prime mortgage affair?

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