âIf BP had stayed true to its âBeyond Petroleum positioning, it is likely that a disaster of this magnitude would not have occurred.â So says the global brand consultancy, Interbrand, in its annual branding report that shows that BP has tumbled out of the worldâs top brands due to Deepwater. So BP may be within … Read More
Deepwater Horizon
No Dead Zones, Just a Dead Bottom
So there is good news and bad from the latest science from the spill. Last week the US government agencies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, released a report on dissolved oxygen levels in the Gulf Ocean. Oxygen levels are important â once … Read More
Spill Scientists Face Funding Crisis
So there were no surprises last week when BP published its whitewash into the Deepwater Horizon disaster. âBP report clears BP of blame in BP disasterâ was how American comedians saw it. The fallout from the report, that concluded that âNo single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy,â will continue though. The scientific fall out … Read More
Another day, another fire
Yesterday, as BP tried to weasel its way out of its promised $20 billion payout, another Gulf rig caught fire, this time thankfully without any associated loss of life. Vermillion 380-A, owned and operated by Mariner Energy reportedly caught fire as workers were painting and water-blasting. There are two main points that are illustrated well … Read More
Itâs as if Deepwater Never Happened..
When the Deepwater disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico four months ago, many commentators argued that this was a âgame changerâ that would change the energy debate forever. Politicians and the public would realise that the ecological and social cost of offshore drilling was becoming unacceptable, the thinking went. If you morph the lessons … Read More
âProbably the most notorious branding crisis in memoryâ
First Greenpeace ran a competition to help BP redesign its logo, and now the Washington Post is running a competition for the public to suggest slogans to help BP repair its battered image. The competition is running until tomorrow noon, if anyone wants to have a go. So far the entries are pretty predictable: BP=Best … Read More
Scientists Say Health and Seafood At-Risk from Spill
BPâs spill does pose threats to human health and seafood safety, according to a new study published by the peer-reviewed scientific Journal of the American Medical Association. The report comes days after President Obama swam in the Gulf at Panama City Beach and made of point of eating seafood for the cameras. “Beaches all along … Read More
Upto 80% of BP oil still in the Gulf, say scientists
When the US government announced three-quarters of the oil from BPâs leak âhas already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated” and what was left posed no risk, I said that the findings would be controversial. What I didnât say is that they would be blatantly challenged by scientists as wildly wrong. Scientists from the … Read More
Ability to Find New Reserves Now on a âKnife Edgeâ
Well we always knew that the oil spill disaster would have severe repercussions for the industry, a fact now conceded by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA has warned that the spill from BPâs Macondo’s well “places the ability of the industry to access important new reserves on a knife edge“. Its latest monthly … Read More
Scientists told to âShut Upâ Over Spill
Yesterday the environmental campaign group Greenpeace announced it was launching a three-month expedition to analyse the impact of BPâs oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. The Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise will âhost independent scientists who will be researching the impacts of oil and chemical dispersants on Gulf ecosystems and marine life,” said John … Read More