Department of Justice language crushes BP oil spill settlement hopes
The Deep Sea Horizon oil platform was plagued with problems before the huge oil spill of 2010; high seabed oil pressures and a fire that killed many. Drilling for oil at great water depths where deep sea robots do the work is surely a place for the bravest pioneers; who sometimes get arrows in their backs when things do not quite work out the way managers intended.
It may be said that when the oil leak started and coastal businesses complained about an obviously impending disaster the U.S. President Barack Obama pointed the finger of blame on B.P. and it was Obama who put a price tag of $20 Billion to compensate the regions clean-up efforts and business losses. It was subsequently clear that when CEO Tony Hayward appeared before a congressional committee that the panel of questioners; had never worked in the oil business or perhaps any corporate business at the highest level were asking intrusive questions that had preordained answers of blame for the commitee. They seemed to have had opinions that were fixated on making B.P. pay probably to escape a Katerina style election defeat. Therefore it is not surprising that two years on the DoJ has a publicly fixed focus on imposing compensation on a world class viable business of $25 Billion; however it may have escaped the notice of the DoJ that the president himself asked for a lessor penalty.
Perhaps the fate of B.P. has as much to do with politics as it does for being brave pioneers to fuel all our lives with liquid gold. The technical mistakes made that involved many sub-contractors has shed a whopping $90 Billion off the share price value and if a final settlement is not made soon the future of the company may be in doubt with persisting uncertainty in America and also the company's Russian exploits.
Perhaps this collectively suggests a future asset sale to pay off debt/ compensation claims and a disintegration of what has been an excellent enterprise that has served the world.
But the U.S. Government awarded the contract, knew the risks and were responsible for health and safety inspections, perhaps the government of Obama should be sharing the risks by sharing the compensation bill. That would save thousands of jobs around the world and in America.
