I have explored enough on this blog how the perception that the Deepwater disaster would somehow be a game changer for the oil industry now looks wildly over optimistic and premature. There were always going to be winners and losers from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. But probably not many would have predicted that oil service … Read More
Gulf of Mexico
Hayward: “We Created Deepwater Mess”
So finally we get a bit of humility and contrition from Tony Hayward, ex-CEO of BP. Speaking for the first time since he resigned, Hayward has admitted that the Deepwater Horizon accident was BP’s fault, that he made mistakes and that BP was woefully unprepared for a disaster on this scale. So compare what Tony … Read More
BP Disaster Adds to Oil Major “Identity Crisis”
Its not a new concept that the oil majors are struggling to come up with new reserves, but its not often that it is written in black and white. Well pink, actually. Today’s Financial Times has one of its special reports on Energy. It combines two of the recurring themes I have written about on … Read More
Despite The Bad Cement Job, Still Blame BP
This is a fight that is going to get ugly. Just as earlier in the year, we learnt a new language about top kills, and blow out preventers, anyone who is following the fall-out from the Deepwater Horizon disaster now has to become an expert in the consistency of cement. In the wake of new … Read More
BP: Stilling Passing Blame
Out with the old. In with the new. When BP ceremoniously dumped bumbling gaffe-prone Tony Hayward after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and ushered in smooth-talking Bob Dudley, it was meant to herald a new era in the troubled giant’s history. But the disaster still wrangles BP badly. And it is no surprise therefore that … Read More
Gulf Coast Faces $350 Billion Threat
It’s a region that has seen its fair share of disasters in recent years. Hurricane Katrina. The BP oil spill to name the big two. But the Gulf Coast cumulative losses of $350 billion by 2030 if it fails to address climate change, according to a new $4 million study. And the warning comes not … Read More
Safety Versus the Bottom Line
Slowly but surely BP is trying to rebuild its battered image and rebuild the way it does business. Part of that process is rebuilding its internal processes and values and the way it rewards success. In an innovative move, the company has announced that performance to be judged solely on improving safety in the fourth … Read More
After a Pause for Breath, Let’s Drill Baby…
It was always a matter of time before the Obama Administration buckled under the intense pressure of the oil industry and Gulf States and let drilling resume in the Gulf. Weeks earlier than expected, the administration lifted the moratorium on deep-water drilling, that was put in place in the aftermath of the Deepwater disaster. “We … Read More
Offshore Safety Inspections Were Compromised
Ask anyone who works say as a teacher about being inspected by government officials and they say that it is the surprise inspections that matter. If you have weeks of notice about an inspection you by its very nature have to make sure everything is in order. The kids are all behaving themselves at the … Read More
Spill panel slams White House; warns over Arctic drilling
Back at the height of the BP oil spill, President Obama asked a commission to find out “what worked and didn’t” in the government’s response to the disaster. Well the bad news for Obama is that much didn’t work, making grim reading for the President and forcing the White House to hit back at some … Read More