If only BP had stayed true to Beyond Petroleum….

September 16, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

“If BP had stayed true to its ‘Beyond Petroleum positioning, it is likely that a disaster of this magnitude would not have occurred.” So says the global brand consultancy, Interbrand, in its annual branding report that shows that BP has tumbled out of the world’s top brands due to Deepwater. So BP may be within … Read More

No Dead Zones, Just a Dead Bottom

September 14, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

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 – once … Read More

Spill Scientists Face Funding Crisis

September 13, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

So there were no surprises last week when BP published its whitewash into the Deepwater Horizon disaster. “BP report clears BP of blame in BP disaster” was how American comedians saw it. The fallout from the report, that concluded that “No single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy,” will continue though. The scientific fall out … Read More

Another day, another fire

September 3, 2010By Steve KretzmannBlog Post

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

It’s as if Deepwater Never Happened..

August 25, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

When the Deepwater disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico four months ago, many commentators argued that this was a “game changer” 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

Scientists Say Health and Seafood At-Risk from Spill

August 18, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

BP’s 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

August 17, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 3 Comments

When the US government announced three-quarters of the oil from BP’s leak “has 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 didn’t 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 “Knife Edge”

August 13, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

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 BP’s 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 “Shut Up” Over Spill

August 12, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 7 Comments

Yesterday the environmental campaign group Greenpeace announced it was launching a three-month expedition to analyse the impact of BP’s oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. The Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise will “host independent scientists who will be researching the impacts of oil and chemical dispersants on Gulf ecosystems and marine life,” said John … Read More