Five crucial moves by BP: Did they lead to Gulf oil spill disaster?

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | June 17, 2010 | Peter Grier, Staff writer

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Washington

BP made five crucial decisions in the name of saving money that may have contributed to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Prior to the April 20 disaster, the Deepwater Horizon rig was behind schedule in drilling BP’s Macondo well, according to internal e-mails and documents examined by committee staff. This may have increased pressure on executives to take shortcuts so the well would be producing as soon as possible.

[UCANSEE2]

I remember laying all this out weeks ago.

Of course, as usual, no one listened.

[Marty62]

Typical Risk Management thinking.

Hedging the odds.

The Gulf lost.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well,...it has to be sanctioned by the elites....

[dfwgator]

Typical Risk Management thinking. Hedging the odds. The Gulf lost.

And BP will lose. Talk about 'penny smart, pound foolish.'

[norraad]

I listened, I've also put in the hard work to study this issue.

BP is an evil, lying, smarmy animal that must be put down.

Anything less is giving aspirin to a rabid dog.

[Tolsti2]

They gambled for incredible riches, got cheap, and lost the bet.

Oops.

[Riodacat]

Yah, but otoh, had the Well worked as hoped, then BP would have made even greater profits and we shareholders (and British pensioners) would have received even larger dividend cheques.
So some you win and some you lose. What you lose on the potatoes, you make on the corn.

[Nephi]

Thanks for posting.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I can think of few things worse than having to stare at Waxman's ugly mug for hours.

So I guess BP is getting some comeuppance.

[Riodacat]

BP is an evil, lying, smarmy animal that must be put down.

That would be really dumb. If you want BP to pay for its mistakes, it must be kept alive and profitable in order for it to make restitution.

[Marty62]

Yep, but I do give them credit for outsmarting Zero.

He thought he was REEEEAAALLLY sticking it to BP (20 Billion Slush Fund), but Bp jumped at the chance to wash their hands of all the claims. It is NOW ZEROs Baby. Yet another epic failure by the idiots in the WH.

[anglian]

The response and letting the spill reach shore, a contributing factor that made it catastrophic.

[omega4412]

Talk about 'penny smart, pound foolish.'

More like 'penny smart, ton foolish.'

[colorado tanker]

I disagree with Barry’s shakedown of BP (yeah, I’ll call it that), and don’t want to see the company put out of business, but BP does seem to have had a shoddy safety record compared to other oil companies and it really came back to bite them (and us) this time.

[dfwgator]

Obama wants to take over BP, just like GM.

[norraad]

Nothing anyone says here makes any difference anywhere anyhow, I was just expressing an 'expert' opinion from having direct experience with the BP culture.

[SouthTexas]

All changes approved by MMS?

[rawhide]

Who is the manager(s) that insisted that these safety precautions be bypassed? Are they still working for the company, and will he be called to testify before the House committee. These are the guys that need to give an account of why this happened!

[kabar]

40% of BP shareholders are Americans. BP creates tens of thousands of American jobs.