November 15, 2012 by Deepwater
“Why the BP isn’t under criminal investigation?” is the question that has been rolling off many a tongues, since the oil leak spill which occurred off the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 when a Switzerland based company Transocean’s ship Deepwater Horizon, that they had hired ended up in creating a catastrophic explosion aboard when they were drilling an oil well. The explosion ended up killing eleven workers and damaged a newly drilled deep well (5,000 feet below the sea surface) and doing so ended up spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill incident now stands as the largest oil spill in American history and was a story that reached right around the world.
It is also the question that several employees of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) have been asking themselves during the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill especially since there have been recorded incidents of BP-related disasters in Alaska and Texas during 2006/2007 which were understood to be caused by the poor operational practices of BP. In 2007 also it was reported that Bush’s administrations scuttled the probe into BP operations after the Alaska oil spill.
It seems that after the 2007 Alaska spill the BP did not learn its lessons nor the other learnt about the BP ways of working. On the Wednesday following the incident, BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward said they had not been informed that the company of BP was the subject of a criminal investigation. It seems that BP is too big to be charged for their criminal misconduct and negligence.
It was discovered that after the incident in 2006/2007 BP had written a crisis communication plan in case an oil spill was to occur again. With this plan to protect them, outsiders have said that since BP is one of the world’s largest companies it is difficult to charge them. We shall only see what comes out of it in the future. Will BP learn their lesson and this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should be the last or will they find themselves in this predicament in later years?
Tags: 2007, BP, criminal, ended, Gulf, mexico, oil, Spill
Permalink |
Posted in Deepwater Horizon, Oil Spil Updates, Oil Spill, Report |
No Comments »
• • • • •
November 15, 2012 by Deepwater
Off the Gulf of Mexico in May 2010 sat a leaking oil rig. Due to insurance payouts they 30 received a total of $270 million dollars despite the cost and cleanup of the incident which experts believe would work out at approx. $30 billion dollars. It was brought to the attention of the public that the Switzerland owned company Transocean whom was contracted by BP to drill the well had taken out a $560 million dollar insurance policy in its Deep-water Horizon rig, which was a greater value than the rig itself, was worth.
From the oil leak, the company actually received a total of $481 million but due to the payments made to the survivors and families affected as eleven people passed away and of course steep insurance costs, the company's payout have been reduced to the $270 million dollars. However, they are making sure that they continue to share the insurance money around and not keep it all for themselves, which technically they could. The executives received safety bonuses as except for the unfortunate incident, 2010 was the best year in safety performance in Transocean’s company history.
If you follow the share market and were one of the lucky ones to have placed shares in the company of Transocean, you too would have received a little bit extra in your dividends received as Transocean decided to issue a $1 billion dollar cheque to go towards dividends to Transocean shareholders.
In conclusion, I think it was a sensible idea for Transocean to insure their ship and having a $270 million dollar payout is nothing when you consider that they had originally just under double that as their first payout but instead of holding it as profits, the company helped put it towards those families who lost husbands, fathers, sons and to those who did survive but were affected by the oil leak tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tags: $270, company, dollar, dollars, insurance, million, received, transocean
Permalink |
Posted in Deepwater Horizon, Oil Spil Updates, Oil Spill, Report, Rig |
No Comments »
• • • • •
November 15, 2012 by Deepwater
Official and Citizens of the United States have a long list of people to blame for the mishandling of Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The most important is the British Petroleum Company or BP. Sources have pointed out the possibility of two other oil rigging firms that may have had a hand in the way the company handled its operations. BP has gone on trial for the mishap, but still people would like a direct answer to who is really responsible for the gigantic oil spill to be the worst in the American history. Transocean a Swiss company that is closely tied to BP is also up for speculation for the incident as Congress is maintaining its belief that the company helped BP by entering into a contract with the company and letting the oil rig move on its territory to evade tax payments.
This makes BP and Transocean both liable for not taking an approved path to make secure way to drill offshore. If after the trail they are finally held responsible for the incident, both could lose credibility and will be left with no means of restarting its operations due to the public fear of another oil spill.
After this incident, both BP and Transocean are still in business but with a tighter hold on how their companies resolve oil spill problems. BP has offered help for the clean up of the areas who are still seeing signs of oil around the shores and on land, has given millions of dollars to relief centers and also invested huge sums in the affected economies in many places. Transocean has for over the past two years received numerous awards for keeping a safe working environment though the issue of avoiding taxes is still open for discussion. Many citizens who are close to the oil spill have noticed that BP was actually working under Transocean’s title for many years, so Transocean’s as the owner would take the fall for the deep-water horizons oil spill.
That is the reason that now new reports are centered on BP and the government has identified BP as the main benefactor of the spill. Along with the trial of BP many improvements have taken place in the oil industry to make it better for the future.
Tags: BP, citizens, company, incident, oil, operations, Spill, transocean
Permalink |
Posted in Deepwater Horizon, Oil Spil Updates, Oil Spill, Report, Rig |
No Comments »
• • • • •
November 15, 2012 by Deepwater
Oil rig owners were allowed to reduce their American taxes due to the constant movement of the companies from one place to another, for many years. At certain areas companies can avoid paying taxes or have a lesser liability because the area where the oil rig resides is out of the United States grasp to make oil rigs pay the amount of taxes due. This has gone on for many years with many rigs moving their business to areas like the Switzerland or islands not property of the United States. This move prevents the company from having to follow the United States rules and regulations on certain matters such as taxation.
For example: BP did not have to pay American tax since it countenanced other companies, out of the United States, to use its rig to drill for oil, although theoretically it was still BP. This arrangement gives the company an opportunity to gain more benefits of having almost $300,000 dollars taken off each day of the year.
Even in case of the Deep-water Horizon oil spill, the company was able to keep away from paying regular taxes, thus not losing any of their money by drilling more and obtaining more oil from the ocean floor. It is a simple form of tax evasion that could not be handled with properly because of the corporation’s movement to territory out of the United States reach. Various oil rigs that travel from place to place may pay a sum for drilling in one area, but the taxes paid by them are most likely lower than what would be charged in the U.S.
Officials have recognized various companies following this trend and fined the companies, although they will quickly move to other areas and taking business for the oil away from the United Sates. Many who have followed the oil rig owners, have reported that by contracting with a foreign territory, they do not have to worry about being red flagged for disallowing safety of millions of workers, sending up to date reports, maintaining a risk free zone, and allowing use of outdated paraphernalia.
Tags: areas, companies, company, oil, rig, states, taxes, united
Permalink |
Posted in Deepwater Horizon, Oil Spil Updates, Oil Spill, Report, Rig |
No Comments »
• • • • •