The damaged Deep-water Horizon rig not only led to deaths in a workplace, it exposed the failure of a company that probably put profits before people. The unconscionable decisions of a multinational corporation in oil and gas prospecting, its contractors and associated partners led to the deaths of innocent workers. The analysis of events surrounding the accidental explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on the Deep-water Horizon rig added new knowledge to the understanding of risk involved in prospecting for oil and gas in deep and shallow water. BP OIL SPILL: Documenting the Crisis in US Gulf Coast is a piece of this knowledge.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
What this Book is about
Issues of Public Concern
Arrangement of the Book
Questions from the Experience
II. Chapter 2 - Challenges of Prospecting for Carbon-based Energy Resource in the US Gulf Coast (April – May, 2010):
a) Unbounded Natural Resources prospecting leads to disaster: what we must learn from British Petroleum mistake in the Gulf Coast
b) Managing through the tipping point in the British Petroleum’s Environmental Mayhem in the Gulf Coast
c) Environmental Consequence of Off-shore oil extraction: lessons from BP’s Disaster in the Gulf Coast.
d) Monthly Oil Spills, busted oil and gas pipelines: how do we save our environment from off-shore drilling mishaps
e) Quantifying the cost of damage from the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast
f) Energy Security for the United States: navigating through public relations mines inflicted by British Petroleum
g) Compensation Game in the British Petroleum Oil Spill Debacle
h) Verifying the truth in British Petroleum’s effort to manage the pace of leaks into Gulf of Mexico
i) Credible Leadership in time of disaster: what companies may learn from British Petroleum’s failure in the Gulf Coast
j) Shaggy Defense from three musketeers: British Petroleum, Transocean and Halliburton
k) Virtual data analysis and oil spill mapping: do we need to know more from British Petroleum debacle
l) Oil Disaster: taming the gushing beast in the Gulf of Mexico
m) Deep Horizon Disaster and the politics of environmental diplomacy: why Cuba and US are suddenly talking
n) Will the British Petroleum brand survive after the Gulf of Mexico fiasco
o) Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana rips into BP in a press conference over its sluggishness at attending to the oil spill crisis
p) Making British Petroleum seal the Deep-water Horizon well, now
q) The battle for balance in the Prescient’s Press Conference and Visitation to the Gulf Coast
r) Coping with the catastrophe of oil pollution in the Gulf Coast after the President’s Visitation to the Accident Site
s) Practical tools to help residents of the Gulf Coast survive the current clean up after the failure of the ‘Top Kill’ strategy
t) Can BP turn Negative Results to Positive Change on the Deep-water Rig in the Gulf?
III. Chapter 3 (June, 2010): Risk of Oil Spill in Carbon-Based Energy Exploration: the Case of British Petroleum
a) Preparing for change in oil and gas industry: what the BP accidental spill means
b) Envision the possibility of a capped well: when everything else fails in BP’s effort to stop the spill at the Deep-water Horizon Rig
c) British Petroleum Ecological Disaster in the Gulf Coast: when logic and intuition tell us.
d) Are Internet gatekeepers attempting to benefit from BP’s misfortune od id British petroleum attempting to abridge the citizen’s right to know?
e) Failure in Management: what organization managers can learn from BP Debacle
f) Human Angle of the British Petroleum‘s Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
g) An open letter to Critics of Obama’s Administration’s response to the Gulf Coast Disaster
h) How President Obama attempts to cultivate an upbeat outlook to BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
i) When Silence is better: Republican Joe Barton’s apology to British Petroleum
j) Testifying in Context: Why BP’s CEO deposition on the hill fell short of expectation
k) Scenario planning: how BP could have saved itself from the oil spill mess
l) Branding BP anew in the midst of Oil spill debacle: wither the Board of Directors
m) Moratorium on Deep-water Drilling: sticking out your neck for common sense.
n) Psychological and psychiatrist challenges in the aftermath of British Petroleum Oil Spill
o) Visualizing and processing seismic data in oil extraction: Did British Petroleum fail on this while prospecting in the Gulf of Mexico
p) Art Gallery: philanthropic donation by British petroleum: Is this the right thing to do now
q) An immeasurable matter: British Petroleum’s past monetary contribution to American politics
IV. Chapter 4 (July, 2010): Public relations, advertisements, rhapsody, chemical toxicity and the effort to manage the aftermath of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
a) Selling an Environmental Disaster: When British petroleum gets into online publishing to counter criticism of its handling of the Deep-water Horizon rig disaster
b) Assessing BP costs so far in managing the oil spill experience in the Gulf of Mexico
c) Provocative Rhapsody in the confusion of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
d) Chemical Toxicity data, marine biology tests and the coming litigation against British Petroleum
e) Can advertisements influence public perception of the impact of British Petroleum oil rig blowout?
f) Stick around you may just get to see the next BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico
g) What is the hullabaloo about the off-shore drilling Moratorium
h) British petroleum oil spill Disaster: the politics of jobs in the Gulf Coast
i) Hail Mary: using high pressure, high stake method to test the integrity of the Macondo well
j) Cautiously Promising: stop-gap engineering feat to halt the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico.
k) Developing optimists in the time of doubts: how to reassure the public that all is well on the Macondo well
l) Let’s talk about consequential impact of dispersed oil from the Macondo well
m) Mathematical Modeling and Data Analysis: compelling tools for understanding ocean floor activities since the capping of Macondo well
n) Emerging Humors from British petroleum’s liability in the Gulf of Mexico
o) Of Storms, disabled rig alarms and the optimism to proceed with effort to manage the disaster in the Gulf Coast
p) Exit of CEO Tony Hayward: the new dynamics in the BP’s saga in the Gulf of Mexico
q) Bob Dudley to replace Tony Hayward at BP’s helm: OMG, tell me it’s not true.
r) Bub Dudley: An American Executive enthroned king of a British Flagship Corporation.
s) Oil Spills: the case for a raining day fund revisited
t) BP’s contribution to the idleness in the Gulf Coast: Reason why BP cannot just begin to cut back on the cleanup efforts yet
u) Better Fuel Efficient Automobiles revisited in light of the disaster at the Deep-water Horizon rig
V. Chapter 5 (August, 2010): The End of BP Oil Spill Nightmare: Closing up the leaks and the future of litigation
a) Day 104 of the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico: Can we agree on progress yet.
b) Comparative perspective of collective redress under an American versus British Legal System: Implication for litigation against BP in the Deep-water Horizon Debacle
c) Is BP jumping the gun with its assessment of progress today at the Deep-water Horizon rig
d) Transformational British petroleum: the long walk from oblivion
e) Building a better Business Model or Drilling Environment: the future of safety on BP oil rigs
f) Machiavellian Plotting and the real Cost of BP Spill to the Gulf Coast
g) Revisit the Off-shore Drilling Moratorium Now: Do we really have to.
h) BP: Poster child of all that is wrong with workplace safety violation in American Petroleum Industry
i) BP vs. State of Alabama: the continuing saga on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
j) The case of a relief well and bottom kill in the effort to manage the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico
k) Unlocking the secrets of the fishermen Crockpot in the Gulf Coast: what the President’s weekend getaway mean
l) Oil spills data storage, parallel file systems and sharing of information after the Deep-water Horizon Explosion
m) Gulf Coast Oysters, Shrimps and Crabs: changing cognitive association with BP Oil spill
n) Figuring out events leading up to the BP Oil spill: a firsthand account of the Chief Electronic Technician on site
o) When hope is not enough: Whereabouts of the spilled BP oil?
p) Figuring out events immediately after the explosion at the Deep-water Horizon Rig; what some insiders are now saying
q) A Deliberate act: the optimistic talk about BP Oil Spill
r) Why is a Democratic Party Senator from the Big Easy Calling for the lifting of moratorium on offshore drilling?
VI. Chapter 6 (September, 2010 and After): Rebuilding, Restitution and Civil and/or Criminal Litigation after the BP Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico
a) Working together to redeem the Gulf Coast Water: lessons from BP Oil Spills for Southern Governors
b) Operating Oil and Gas Production Platforms without an accidental explosion
c) BP attempts to influence reform in off-shore drilling through blackmail...
d) Digging into BP’s threat of Congress on reforming off-shore drilling: implications for the Clear Water Act
e) Redefining workspace safety in off-shore drilling in light of British Petroleum Debacle on the Deep-water Horizon Rig
f) Need to know on a Labor day: Questions for US Justice Department Regarding the blow-out preventer
g) Keeping Informed: Scientific research Investigation Standard in completing federally funded researches into BP pollution of the Gulf of Mexico
h) Keeping you informed II: BP releases its internal investigation report into the Deep-water Horizon fiasco
i) Plugging the BP Well for Good: Cautions Restraint Desired.
j) BP’s UK parliamentary testimony on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI visit: Why Tony Hayward continues to miss the point on the Deep-water Horizon Disaster
k) Offshore oil drilling moratorium, unemployment and Obama Administration’s Agency Staff Comments
l) End of Macondo well: Fear and Misery of what’s next
m) Rehabilitating Multinational Corporation: When BP attempts to join the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC)
n) Cultivating leaders after a Disaster: how BP could take advantage of in-house leaders to refocus its objectives on workplace safety
o) John Wright and Mitt Simmons: two men to celebrate in different ways with regard to the Deep-water Horizon disaster
p) BP Spill: US Coast Guard rear Admiral Paul Zukunft meets retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen
VII. Chapter 7 : Summary and Epilog
VIII. About the Author
Objectives and Topics
This book provides an in-depth analysis of the 2010 British Petroleum oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico, documenting the events and evaluating the implications for environmental policy, corporate accountability, and workplace safety in the oil and gas industry. The author addresses the complex challenges of deep-water drilling, the failures in disaster management, and the long-term impact on the affected Gulf Coast communities.
- The environmental and ecological consequences of off-shore drilling disasters.
- Corporate responsibility, public relations, and legal liability of multinational energy firms.
- Leadership and crisis management failures at British Petroleum.
- The role of federal government regulation and oversight in the energy sector.
- The psychological and socioeconomic impacts of the disaster on Gulf Coast residents.
Excerpt from the Book
Unbounded natural resources prospecting leads to disaster: what we must learn from British Petroleum mistake in the Gulf Coast
The environmentalists argument to corporations regarding natural resource exploration is very simple: cautiously map your prospecting activities off- or on-shore for oil, gas, coal or other natural resources, paying attention to safety rules and you do not have to deal with the head aches of managing a cleanup or environmental disasters. The environmentalists argument to the government is: allow for unbounded prospecting for oil, gas, coal or other natural resources off- or on-shore and you find out what excessive risks corporations are willing to take to plunder resources and the environment. For corporations, safety rules handed down by MSHA, OHSA and EPA are just too complicated and costly. The twist and turns of these rules and regulations add too much to overhead and as entrepreneurs, we do not have room to stomach these costs. We will rather devise short cuts to get around these regulations and hope for the best!
However, what experience tells us is this, whenever prospecting corporations attempt to cut corners we end up with loss of lives, humans and mammals, loss of other resources, and endless contamination of the environment. For example, how is British Petroleum explaining the estimated 210,000 gallons of oil spill a day? How is the company going to manage its horizontal drilling efforts, a stop gap strategy, to prevent potential nightmarish marine life destruction in the Gulf of Mexico?
The eclipsing magnitude of the spill in the Gulf Coast is probably the second largest environmental disaster in the history of oil exploration in America. The disaster is probably only surpassed by the Exxon Valdez disaster by a squint. With the pace of the oil spill, British Petroleum probably could not say for sure, the extent of pollution or damage to the environment. As the problem continues to evolve, the Federal Government is probably not sure if the environmental pollution problem could be contained to the Gulf Coast. Probably, that is why the Administration has sent two high powered Administration Secretaries and the Environmental Protection Agency honcho to the Gulf Coast to see the extent of the British Petroleum effort to manage the current disaster.
Summary of Chapters
Chapter 2 - Challenges of Prospecting for Carbon-based Energy Resource in the US Gulf Coast (April – May, 2010): This chapter documents the immediate aftermath and initial struggles in managing the unprecedented oil spill, highlighting failures in corporate safety standards and the initial engineering attempts to contain the leaking well.
Chapter 3 (June, 2010): Risk of Oil Spill in Carbon-Based Energy Exploration: the Case of British Petroleum: This chapter analyzes the recurring risks of oil exploration, focusing on management failures, the human impact of the disaster, and the criticism surrounding corporate public relations and accountability.
Chapter 4 (July, 2010): Public relations, advertisements, rhapsody, chemical toxicity and the effort to manage the aftermath of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: This section explores how British Petroleum used media and advertising to counter public criticism, alongside discussions on chemical toxicity data and the politics surrounding drilling moratoriums.
Chapter 5 (August, 2010): The End of BP Oil Spill Nightmare: Closing up the leaks and the future of litigation: This chapter covers the final efforts to close the leaks, the complex legal perspectives on liability, and the initial assessments of the environmental damage caused to the Gulf Coast ecosystem.
Chapter 6 (September, 2010 and After): Rebuilding, Restitution and Civil and/or Criminal Litigation after the BP Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico: This chapter examines the long-term aftermath, including restitution efforts, the reorganization of regulatory bodies, and the ongoing legal battles to hold the involved corporations accountable for the disaster.
Chapter 7 : Summary and Epilog: This chapter provides a final overview and synthesis of the documented events, reflecting on the lessons learned and the necessity for a shift in energy policy and corporate safety culture.
Keywords
British Petroleum, BP, Deep-water Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, oil spill, environmental disaster, workplace safety, oil drilling, crisis management, offshore exploration, Minerals Management Service, corporate accountability, environmental policy, energy security, litigation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this book?
The book documents and analyzes the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, focusing on the failure of safety standards, the subsequent crisis management (or lack thereof), and the long-term environmental, political, and economic implications of the disaster.
What are the central themes discussed in the text?
Central themes include corporate negligence, the tension between industrial profit and environmental safety, the role of government oversight, and the impact of the disaster on Gulf Coast residents and the fishing industry.
What is the author's primary research goal?
The author aims to catalog the day-to-day events of the crisis to reveal the failures of British Petroleum and to advocate for a more rigorous and dynamic approach to workplace safety and public policy in the oil and gas industry.
What scientific or professional methods are mentioned?
The author utilizes daily documentation of events, analyzes corporate public relations strategies, discusses the technical aspects of oil rig operations, and reviews environmental policy and legal implications of the disaster.
What specific aspects of the Deep-water Horizon disaster are covered in the main body?
The main body covers the initial explosion, the failed containment efforts (such as the 'Top Kill'), the breakdown of communication among contractors, and the subsequent legal and political fallout involving the White House and Congress.
Which keywords best characterize the scope of this work?
The work is characterized by terms such as corporate accountability, environmental pollution, maritime safety, deep-water drilling hazards, and industrial regulation.
How did British Petroleum handle the public relations fallout during the crisis?
According to the author, British Petroleum initially engaged in denial and deflection, later utilizing intensive advertising campaigns and sponsoring online search links to burnish its image and influence public perception.
What role did the Minerals Management Service play in the context of the disaster?
The author argues that the agency suffered from corruption and an industry-dominated culture, leading to compromised oversight and the eventual need for its reorganization and splitting of mandates.
What is the significance of the "Top Kill" strategy mentioned in the book?
The "Top Kill" strategy represents the experimental, failed engineering attempts by British Petroleum to stop the leaks, which the author cites as evidence of the company’s lack of a reliable plan for managing deep-sea drilling emergencies.
How does the author view the transition in BP's executive leadership?
The author is skeptical of replacing Tony Hayward with Bob Dudley, suggesting that the Board merely engaged in a "changing of the guard" for public perception without addressing the fundamental failures of the corporate culture and management hierarchy.
- Citation du texte
- Christopher Adekoya (Auteur), 2014, BP Oil Spill. Documenting the Crisis in US Gulf Coast, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/274371
