Written by Ash Mathew. The BP oil spill, or also referred to as the BP oil disaster, is a historical oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th 2010. An oilrig, Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean and leased out to BP had burst into flames because of a gas. The explosion killed 11 men on the rig and severely injured several more. Month of April Deepwater Horizon was a 9-year old drilling unit that was owned by Transocean, a drilling contractor.
A shining example of this type of response can be seen in the BP Oil Spill. This manmade disaster affected thousands of individuals and businesses in the Gulf Coast region as well as creating a cascade affect in ecological, healthcare and economical stability throughout the United States. Like ripples created in a pond when a tiny pebble is thrown in the after affects; experienced by the individual as well as the communities; generated from the original event are similar though they may be experienced at lesser degrees nationwide. The BP Oil Spill news reads like a Steven Segal movie script. It begins on a beautiful spring day (April 20th) with a failed preventer and ends with mass destruction of the surrounding environment and a way of life for those live in the Gulf area.
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 1989 Introduction The Exxon Valdez was a supertanker that transported oil for Exxon Mobil from Prince William Sound, Alaska, to California. On March 24, 1989, the tanker collided with a reef, leading to a massive oil spill that would eventually pollute nearly 1,990 km2 of shoreline after spilling 38 million litres into the sea. Estimates of the crude oil lost by the Exxon Valdez are imprecise, but around 30–40% evaporated, 10–25% was recovered, and the rest remains in the marine environment. There are many factors that contributed to the scale of the disaster, almost all of which are Exxon’s fault. The ships captain had a drinking problem and on the night of the incident he was unfit to be in charge of the tanker and so left an unqualified crewmember in control.
A few months before the accident, related workers, engineers and supervisors expressed their concern about the safety of the work environment because not enough cement was being used to stabilize the drilling platform. After that, methane leaked out in the evening on April 20th, and the drilling rig was soon engulfed in flames. Most of the workers were rescued; however, there were still 11 workers missing even though the Coast Guard searched for them for three days. After 36 hours of burning, the drilling rig sank in the morning on April 22nd. According to the investigation report by the U.S. Coast Guard and Ocean Energy Authority, the cement for reinforcing the oil well was the main reason for this disaster.
The Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill: The Catastrophic Consequences of Negligence The Exxon-Valdez oil spill of 1987 is the second largest oil spill in United States history. The damages, which occurred at Bligh Reef, Alaska, caused “a total loss of 258,000 barrels of crude oil (30 764 041.6 L)” (NTSB 27). Also, “150km of shoreline was covered with heavy amounts crude oil and 460km lightly covered” (Short, Rice, and Lindeberg). The factors that played a significant role in this accident including the master’s negligence, excessive workloads of the crew and lack of preparation by Exxon and Alyeska in case of an oil spill. These are the causes to this catastrophic accident.
BP Oil Spill Environmental Disaster- Lessons Bp oil spill was the largest disaster in American history; occurring on April 20, 2010 pumping over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil rig explosion killed 11 people, injuring 17. Moreover, till date the oil continues to be washing up on shores; creating long-term damages to residential areas. In addition, the Bp Oil Spill was responsible for the death of over 8,000 animals, including many endangered species. The immediate effect of the Oil spill impacted the wildlife which included oil-coated birds (Ducks) and sea turtles.
Boone Pickens was not concerned with the future of Gulf, but rather the major reserves of oil that they already possessed. The board of directors of Gulf Corp. wanted to keep their long-term goal of exploration and expenditures to gain new reserves and continue to help the company grow. As far as the board was concerned, it was imperative that Pickens did not gain majority control. In order to prevent Pickens from taking over, Gulf Oil Corp. management first attempted to reincorporate from Pennsylvania to Delaware. This move ensured that Pickens would need a majority shareholder vote to elect alternative directors.
Where’s Our Fifth presents BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Analysis Where’ Our Fifth BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Analysis Table of Contents Page Section I: Introduction 3 Section II: Collecting Data 6 Section III: Texas City Explosion 8 Section IV: Gulf of Mexico Spill 14 Section V: Description and Analysis of the Initiative 22 Section VI: Evaluation of the Initiative 28 Section VII: Conclusion 30 Appendix I 32 References I. Introduction On April 20th, 2010, the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon Drilling Rig exploded, causing the deaths of 11 workers and the largest oil spill in United States history. The explosion was the latest in a series of costly and damaging blunders that has plagued the rapidly growing company. Environmentalists are still not sure how many years it will take to clean up the entire mess and the effect that so much oil will have on the Gulf of Mexico and coastal ecosystems. Executive orders along with legislation are a response to the event.
Oil is often found in remote hostile locations such as Antarctica or the Middle East. Oil has global political influences. Western countries are seeking to gain political influence in regions of the Middle East that have a large oil reserves. As a result of the west’s hunger for oil the increase in price has been a major drain on the financial reserves of many developed countries and beyond the reach of most developing countries, because of this developing countries are forced to use less effective fuels. One attempts by western countries to ensure a supply of oil has been the BT C pipeline, which is brought problems than benefits for the country’s that it runs through and the people of those countries.
In the late 1990s, CEO Lord John Brown being the first company executive to highlight the existence of climate change spent over $200 million dollars on advertising campaigns to promoted CSR. In 1998, BP took over Amoco, this was the time when the ultimate downfall developed its roots for BP’s strategy was then to minimize the expenses on fixing the worsening Amoco equipment. In the majority of disaster incidents that followed, assets acquired in the Amoco merger were the major cause. Thus BP’s practice, led by CEO Lord Browne, of buying one company after another, firing employees, cutting costs, breaking safety procedures, pumping toxic chemicals back into the ground, using deteriorating equipment were bound to unravel in a series of environmental crimes. BP’s corporate culture aimed at getting rich and encouraging profits was apparent by BP’s firm commitment to fixed dividend policy.