...A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BP OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS PLAN FOR THE DEEP HORIZON – WHY DID IT FAIL? Toni Josina Elfrieda Beukes* May 2012† ABSTRACT: Based on events that unfolded in the U.S. in the weeks and subsequently months of the Macondo well blow-out, it is clear that neither industry nor government was equipped to deal with a spill the scale and complexity of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. As one of its key recommendations to President Obama for addressing the causes and consequences of the spill, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in its final report, stated the need for “strengthening oil spill response, planning and capacity”. Industry best practice dictates that quickness and accuracy are key requirements for effective oil spill response and preparedness planning (OSRPP); yet it took nearly three months to seal the Macondo well. This paper is accordingly concerned with the reasons for the apparent failure of the BP oil spill response plan. This failure will be considered in light of current international environmental regulations on OSRPP and applicable United States legislation, whilst assessing the BP oil spill response plan’s compliance therewith. The study will also consider some theory in the development of OSRPP by looking specifically at risk assessment tools and applying key criteria to the BP oil spill response plan to determine its adequacy and appropriateness for its operations in the GOM. What...
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...and immediately following the blow out and explosions on the Deepwater Horizon. Answer: My first thoughts after I read both incident chronology’s, to compare and contrast the way Transocean and BP describe the incidents, is that BP or Transocean do not take ownership of the incident nor do either want to not acknowledge wrongdoing of any aspect of event. Transocean points the finger at BP and BP’s chronology seems to minimize their part. Transocean chronology begins on 4/14/2013, and ends 4/20/2013, while BP’s chronology begins on 10/6/2009, and ends 5/5/2013. The obvious differences in the incident chronologies are the BP incident chronology is longer, but does not have as much finger pointing and is not as interesting as Transocean’s. BP makes up for this in their “Accident Analysis” sections, but their chronology sticks to logs and facts compared to Transocean’s more narrative approach. BP uses bullet points at the beginning of their chronology and a dressed up spreadsheet with short descriptions of each timeline event. Transocean chronology is more descriptive and colorful. They use their incident chronology as a sounding board for all of BP’s shortcomings during the entire project. The use this section to minimize their involvement in the project. They use the chronology express “BP’s direction” and “BP’s poor decisions” during their involvement with them during the project. The Deepwater Horizon, which was owned and operated by Transocean and had...
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...10-110 Rev. April 3, 2012 BP and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster of 2010 Christina Ingersoll, Richard M. Locke, Cate Reavis When he woke up on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, Mike Williams already knew the standard procedure for jumping from a 33,000 ton oil rig: “Reach your hand around your life jacket, grab your ear, take one step off, look straight ahead, and fall.”1 This would prove to be important knowledge later that night when an emergency announcement was issued over the rig’s PA system. Williams was the chief electronics technician for Transocean, a U.S.-owned, Switzerland-based oil industry support company that specialized in deep water drilling equipment. The company’s $560 million Deepwater Horizon rig was in the Gulf of Mexico working on the Macondo well. British Petroleum (BP) held the rights to explore the well and had leased the rig, along with its crew, from Transocean. Of the 126 people aboard the Deepwater Horizon, 79 were from Transocean, seven were from BP, and the rest were from other firms including Anadarko, Halliburton, and M-1 Swaco, a subsidiary of Schlumberger. Managing electronics on the Deepwater Horizon had inured Williams to emergency alarms. Gas levels had been running high enough to prohibit any “hot” work such as welding or wiring that could cause sparks. Normally, the alarm system would have gone off with gas levels as high as they were. However, the alarms had been disabled in order to prevent false alarms from waking people in the middle of...
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...BP & Deepwater Horizon C. Nelson BP & Deepwater Horizon Every business, in some way, is affected by public and private criticism. One industry that is never too far away from criticism is the oil and gas industry. Over the course of this essay, we will explore BP, its stakeholders, some of their criticisms, and BP’s response to those criticisms. BP, formerly British Petroleum, is the fourth largest oil and gas companies in the world in terms of revenue and sixth based on production. (Statista, 2015) (Forbes, 2015) Although BP doesn’t have an official mission statement, the company does have a few statements entitled “Our Values”, “Clear Priorities”, and “Our strategy and sustainability”. BP (2015) states, “We have five values that express our shared understanding of what we believe, how we aim to behave and what we aspire to be as an organization.” Those five values include safety, respect, excellence, courage, and one team. “Clear Priorities” (2015) details three main topics that top the company’s interests including: safe, reliable and compliant operations; disciplined financial choices; and competitive project execution. Thirdly, BP has a commitment to sustainability and states (2015), “We believe that the best way for BP to achieve sustainable success is by acting in the long-term interests of our shareholders, our partners and society.” The three pillars augment the lack of a mission statement and express BP’s commitments and responsibilities....
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...BP Deepwater Horizon Accident Part 1(week 4) A Study of Strategic Implications of the Recent BP Deepwater Horizon Accident Date: Submitted by: Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Student ID Number: H00032634 Chapter 1 Introduction History of British Petroleum (BP) Company British Petroleum is one of the oldest companies in the oil industry. According to BP Global (2010b), the company was founded in the year 1909 in the UK under the name Anglo-Persian Company. Later, in the year 1954, the company changed its name to British Petroleum (BP). Being in the gas and oil industry, BP conducts various operations including exploration and refining of oil among others. According to BP Global (2010), Bp is the largest energy company globally with presence in over 100 countries. Overview of the Deepwater Horizon Accident In the year 2010, BP experienced a Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster which involved gas release and subsequent explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Webb (2010), the fire lasted for 36 hours and this was followed by leaking of hydrocarbon into the Gulf for eighty-seven days. BP admitted responsibility explaining that the accident occurred following loss of control related to pressure within the well blowouts in which a special type of is designed to keep constant pressure. Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon accident This tragedy impacted immensely on various BP stakeholders i.e. local communities, global customers...
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...How Does the BP Oil Spill Impact Wildlife and Habitat? Scientists are still assessing the effects of the estimated 170 million gallons of oil that flooded into the Gulf after the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig. More than 8,000 birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals were found injured or dead in the six months after the spill. Learn How Oil Impacts: * Birds * Mammals * Sea turtles and other reptiles * Fish and aquatic invertebrates * Wildlife Refuges The long-term damage caused by the oil and the nearly 2 million gallons of chemical dispersants used on the spill may not be known for years. Immediate Impacts In the months following the Gulf oil disaster, wildlife managers, rescue crews, scientists and researchers saw many immediate impacts of the oil impacting wildlife. * Oil coated birds' feathers, causing birds to lose their buoyancy and the ability to regulate body temperature. * Mammals could have ingested oil, which causes ulcers and internal bleeding. * Sea turtles were covered in oil * Dead and dying deep sea corals were discovered seven miles from the Deepwater Horizon well. Long Term Impacts Though oil is no longer readily visible on the surface, it isn’t gone. Scientists have found significant amounts on the Gulf floor, and the oil that has already washed into wetlands and beaches will likely persist for years. We likely will not see the full extent of impacts for many years, which makes creating and implementing...
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...in their “Accident Analysis” sections, but their chronology sticks to logs and facts compared to Transocean’s more narrative approach. BP uses bullet points at the beginning of their chronology and a dressed up spreadsheet with short descriptions of each timeline event. Transocean chronology is more descriptive and colorful. They use their incident chronology as a sounding board for all of BP’s shortcomings during the entire project. The use this section to minimize their involvement in the project. They use the chronology express “BP’s direction” and “BP’s poor decisions” during their involvement with them during the project. The Deepwater Horizon, which was owned and operated by Transocean and had been under contract to BP, proves they were in this together, yet both want to distance themselves from the catastrophe. BP’s Deepwater Horizon Accident Report seems to get want to get others involved in the blame, but they are careful not to day they are not at fault. I observed this is both reports, but you can see this more with BP. Then discuss why you think these two companies describe these events differently. Both companies obviously describe the incidents from a...
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...Final Report on the Investigation of the Macondo Well Blowout Deepwater Horizon Study Group March 1, 2011 The Deepwater Horizon Study Group (DHSG) was formed by members of the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM) in May 2010 in response to the blowout of the Macondo well on April 20, 2010. A fundamental premise in the DHSG work is: we look back to understand the why‘s and how‘s of this disaster so we can better understand how best to go forward. The goal of the DHSG work is defining how to best move forward – assessing what major steps are needed to develop our national oil and gas resources in a reliable, responsible, and accountable manner. Deepwater Horizon Study Group Investigation of the Macondo Well Blowout Disaster This Page Intentionally Left Blank Deepwater Horizon Study Group Investigation of the Macondo Well Blowout Disaster In Memoriam Jason Anderson Senior tool pusher Dewey Revette Driller Stephen Curtis Assistant driller Donald Clark Assistant driller Dale Burkeen Crane operator Karl Kleppinger Roughneck Adam Weise Roughneck Shane Roshto Roughneck Wyatt Kemp Derrick man Gordon Jones Mud engineer Blair Manuel Mud engineer 1 Deepwater Horizon Study Group Investigation of the Macondo Well Blowout Disaster In Memoriam The Environment 2 Deepwater Horizon Study Group Investigation of the Macondo Well Blowout Disaster Table of Contents In Memoriam....................................................................
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...Dear Jeff: Enclosed is my report on British Petroleum and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This report shows how BP cut corners to expedite construction and save millions of dollars. As a result, the biggest oil spill in United States occurred. Due to the reckless conduct of BP, the corners cut by the people in charge ended up costing them billions of dollars as well as endangering the habitat and wildlife in the area. After reading this report you will realize BP’s CEO Tony Hayward, all the way down to the engineers in charge of everyday operations were to blame for the worse oil tragedy in our history. Sincerely, Executive Summary This is a report on how British Petroleum has failed in many areas of business communications. It’s going to include 3 main points that will explain in detail on how British Petroleum had bad communication and how it ended up creating history’s biggest oil spill in the United States in the Gulf of Mexico. The 3 main points include: 1. Pre-Event Planning a. Anticipate, Prepare, Practice b. “Safety” Not a Core Value c. Responsibility of Employees 2. Expressing Concern and Wrongful Focus a. Slow in Expressing Concern b. Lack of Sympathy to Affected People c. Accountability 3. Company Truthfulness a. Alarm Negligence b. Learn From Mistakes Table of Contents Introduction 5 Figure 1: BP Oil Spill Statistic………………………………………………………………….5 Purpose 5 Procedure...
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...Ethics Case Analysis BP BP Struggles to Resolve Sustainability Disaster Case Summary: The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 is the worst oil spill in US history. Initial claims on the scope of the spill, as released by BP, was that 5,000 barrels per day were being released into the water, although they stated they had no way of precisely measuring the spill. Outside analysts have stated that between 54,000 and 84,000 barrels per day were leaking into the area. This estimate has been largely supported and accepted. The spill lasted for 87 days before workers finally sealed the leak, but by that time, more than 4 million barrels of oil had been released into the gulf. The BP oilrig, owned by Transocean, Deepwater Horizon had been in operation in the Gulf of Mexico since February 2001. The rig was valued at more than $560 million dollars and worked on many different wells in the gulf. The last well it operated on was the Macondo well. It was this well that the oil spill came from and was brought about by several preventable errors on the part of BP and Transocean management and employees. The Deepwater Horizon vessel was an exploratory rig assigned the duty of finding oil, reporting it, and capping the well for another extracting type rig to come in and harvest the oil. While drilling the well, the rig encountered pockets of natural gas buildups where it was drilling. A week prior to the fatal explosion, Horizon encountered one of these pockets and the natural...
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...Rough Draft 11/23/2012 April 20, 2012 British Petroleums drilling vessel Deepwater Horizon suffered an explosion, and then began expelling enormous amounts of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Although many different individuals and organizations attempted to help BP fix their spewing well, it wasn’t until July 15 that the vent was cut off. Through our research we have developed an analysis that examines the cause of the cause of the disaster, the event itself and its aftermath. We would also like to offer our recommendations on the subject. British Petroleum is an international oil company base in London and is one the nations leading oil and gas producer (History of oil spill). In spite of BP’s market share, as a company they have an unfortunate history of safety breeches including a 2005 explosion at oil refinery in Texas (Deep Water dDrilling). These accidents seem to be a cause of weak corporate safety culture and cost leadership (On average, fifty percent of management bonuses were awarded on the basis of cost cutting). The lack of proper safety practice and absence of oversight has ultimately resulted in infrastructure and architectural failure (Deep Water Drilling). As with any disaster, each party involves attempts to prove their innocence and are all too quick to point a finger at a party that must be guiltier than they and the Deepwater Horizon spill is no different. Although BP owned the oil, other companies had considerable interaction with Horizon; Transocean...
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...There are many key takeaways that are derived from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster. The behaviors and attitudes of leaders were disappointing at best, and irresponsible at worst. It appears that BP presided over an organizational culture that sanctioned extreme risk-taking, ignored expert advice, overlooked warnings about safety issues, and hid facts (Morgan, Whitehead, Huth, Martin, and Sjolander, 2016). Their failure to respond to the disaster with sufficient speed and attention, was a direct consequence of the flawed culture. On April 20, 2010 there was an explosion and fire on the BP-licensed drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. While the Deepwater Horizon Rig sunk two days later, the seafloor oil gusher that resulted...
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...Gulf Oil Spill Grand Canyon University: Economics for Public Administrators ADM-614 September 10, 2014 Gulf Oil Spill The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated that 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico over a span of 87 days. This catastrophic environmental disaster is known as the Gulf Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. An oil drilling rig (Deepwater Horizon) leased by British Petroleum (BP) ignited and exploded spewing 42,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf. Two days later the rig sank increasing the spill rate to 210,000 gallons of oil a day. Analysis – Government intervention The U.S. Government named BP as the responsible party in the incident; BP was found negligent in communication and safety practices, the company was held accountable for all cleanup costs resulting from the oil spill. Individuals and businesses that incurred damages as a result of the oil spill were able to submit claims for cleanup cost, property damages, loss of earnings or profits, and for physical injuries or death. The private industry and public sector both sectors failed in many aspects: inspection measures were not properly in place, safety updates and recommendations were not followed and sufficient resources were not provided to enforce safety guidelines and inspection requirements. Randall Holcombe’s book Public Sector affirms that government has a role to play in the market economy;...
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...British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Felicia Kuse Abstract The following paper will describe recent events that occurred with a British Petroleum owned offshore oilrig known as “Deepwater Horizon”. In addition the paper will also discuss various safety issues, concerns, and repeated violations that have occurred resulting in an environmental disaster that impacts the Gulf of Mexico of which the long term effects will not be known for generations to come. British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon On April 10, 2010 the offshore drilling rig, operated by the world’s sixth largest oil producer British Petroleum, erupted in flames. The result of this disaster caused “170 million gallons of crude oil to spill into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico” ("NRDC.org", 2011, p. 4), killing 11 people, and creating what could be the largest ecological disaster of the 21st century. This disaster is considered by many to be the largest oil spill ever to occur. Clean up efforts are still ongoing after almost two years. British Petroleum (BP) has spent billions of dollars in cleanup cost, restitution and community development; however the greater effects on the environment will not be determined for many years to come. The direct cause of this disaster has been identified as mechanical failure of a blowout preventer located at the base of the well directly above the site entry on the bottom of the sea floor. When this mechanical valve failed, it cause as large plum of highly flammable gas...
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...Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Seven years ago, 2010. The BP oil well deep in the Gulf of Mexico exploded at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and left 11 workers dead. The explosion set off the worst offshore oil spill near the Mississippi River Delta and the coasts of Louisiana state. Because of the oil leaking many marine species such as fishes, dolphins, and plants died. Oil spill was noticed on the 4/22/2010, when the BP found a large oil spots began to spread around the Deepwater Horizon. However, the Flow Rate Technical Group estimated the initial flow rate was 5,000 barrels per day, making it the world’s largest accidental spill. (Deepwater Horizon oil spill). The BP company had many attempts to stop the flow of oil. First, they tried to...
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