One of the most unreported legacies of the Exxon Valdez oil spill was the devastating long-term health impact of many of the clean-up workers and communities. Thousands of people suffered short-term and long-term effects from the spill. An unknown number have died. It was in part this lethal legacy that was a shadow of fear … Read More
Deepwater Horizon
Drilling Resumes, but Doubts Remain
Yesterday the US Interior Department approved the first new deepwater drilling permit since BP’s Deepwater disaster last April. The permit for Noble Energy to drill about 70 miles southeast of Venice, Florida, comes more than four months after the Interior Department lifted its deep-water drilling moratorium, and nearly a year after the disaster. “This permit … Read More
Welcome to the “Invertebrate Graveyard”
Do you remember when last August that the US government announced that seventy-five per cent of the oil from BP’s Deepwater disaster had miraculously “disappeared”? This led to a plethora of press reports and blog posts that the ecological effects of the disaster had been over-exaggerated. At the time Samantha Joye, a marine scientist at … Read More
Investors Warn Over Deepwater Risks
The oil industry may be arguing that its back to business as usual after the Deepwater Horizon blowout, but the disaster is still causing major ripples within the investment community. And now the shareholders – who together represent investments of $2.5 trillion – are coming together to force through further changes. They are arguing that … Read More
“Compromised” API Set for Key Safety Role
So its back to business as usual. Bob Dudley, BP’s chief executive, is set to announce a resumption of dividend payments tomorrow as a signal to investors that the oil giant is back on track, after last year’s Deepwater disaster. The reinstatement is key for Dudley to show investor confidence before his inaugural presentation to … Read More
Reserves Replacement Ratio: past its sell-by date?
Is a key valuation metric used by analysts to assess oil companies pushing big oil towards riskier and riskier projects? Those of us outside the financial sector may not be too familiar with acronyms such as RoACE, NAV or RRR. But the last one in particular has been intriguing me lately because of its implications … Read More
API is “Compromised” Says Deepwater Report
We know that BP was to blame for the Deepwater Horizon. So too was Transocean and Halliburton. So too was the failed regulatory regime, which was tasked with maximising revenues for drilling at the same time as being responsible for oversight of the operations. You can’t do both, and that is the reason that former … Read More
Preventing Another “National Scandal”
We already know that the official Commission into the Deepwater disaster criticised BP for systematic management failures. But the Commission is set to criticise the Obama administration later today when the full and final report is launched at the National Press Club. It will argue that the Administration has not gone far enough to reform … Read More
“A Failure of Management”
When ex-BP boss, Tony Hayward said last year that “This was not our accident … This was not our drilling rig. This was not our equipment. It was not our people, our systems or our processes,” you know that history would prove him to be wrong. This was BP’s accident. Today, the Official Report into … Read More
Another $20 Billion Bill for BP
Shares in BP are falling this morning – 3 per cent in early trading so far – on the news that it could face penalties of $21 billion-plus if found fully liable for damages in a US federal lawsuit regarding the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster. But BP is not alone. The US Department of Justice … Read More