Is BP a victim of a massive shakedown? Texas Congressman Joe Barton apparently thought so. He stated this opinion last week and then was quickly lambasted by his fellow Republicans who desperately want public opinion on their side and have done an about face and adopted an ‘Oil is Bad’ attitude!
I have sat back over the last six weeks and like many people have watched the events unfold in the Gulf of Mexico. I have formed an opinion that the treatment of BP is at the very least, a bit peculiar. BP screwed up. That much is true. However it’s a bit rich to suggest that all of this mess is their fault and their fault alone.
If you will recall, there were three guilty parties at the beginning of all of this – BP, Transocean and good old Halliburton (Dick Cheney’s pride and joy).
BP operated the rig. However they leased the rig from Transocean. Transocean was responsible for the upkeep. Halliburton was pumping cement slurry into the drill hole. There are some experts who believe the catalyst for this incident was the pipe the cement slurry was being pumped into. The US Minerals Management Service undertook a study of well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14 year period. They found Cementing to be the cause of 18 out of 39 blowouts – almost half. If Cementing were the cause of this accident, much of the blame should fall at Halliburton’s feet. However, even if this was found to be the cause, I doubt any blame would go Halliburton’s way. The company has very powerful friends. This is the same company that was once run by Dick Cheney and was miraculously awarded billion dollar contracts in Iraq without even having to tender a bid.
Blame aside, I’m a bit disturbed by what seems to be an anti-British sentiment arising out of this incident. Would an American company be treated this way? I don’t think so. When the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989, the company was fined 5 billion dollars. They appealed several times and in 2008 the Supreme Court reduced this amount to 507 million dollars. Many of the people who had suffered hardship because of this spill two decades earlier had died. Now, BP has been shaken down for 20 billion dollars. How about Transocean and Halliburton coughing up some of that money? Why doesn’t Halliburton have to dip into their very deep, gold-lined, pockets?
There has been talk that BP CEO, Tony Hayward has demonstrated an ‘uncaring and unsympathetic’ attitude. When he was grilled in a congressional hearing last week, many congressmen berated him over his attitude. What did they want him to do – grovel? Cry? Would that have pleased them to have this CEO of a very powerful company beg them for forgiveness? I doubt any American CEO’s would grovel in a foreign courtroom for anything they were accused of doing. In fact if the roles were reversed I’m sure the US Government would step in to protect an American CEO being grilled in a foreign country. They probably wouldn’t have to testify. But in this case, Tony Hayward and BP Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg had to do the perp-walk at the White House, in front of the media. This was done on purpose to help sway public opinion. Now Tony Hayward has been removed from being in charge of the cleanup and has been replaced by an American.
I’m a fan of President Obama, but I have to say this cannot be his proudest moment. Fresh off an historic victory in passing his healthcare bill, I thought he was on his way up and the opinion polls would soon swing his way. But the fallout from the Gulf of Mexico has quickly erased whatever momentum he had gained from healthcare. A President needs to appear Presidential. In other words he should appear in total control even if he isn’t. Perception is everything. It’s safe to say he hasn’t appeared in control of this at all! Even the actual numbers on just how much oil has been spilled appear to change weekly – for the worse! And the fact the first time he actually spoke to Tony Hayward was during his visit to the White House – fifty days after the oil spill – doesn’t shine in his favour!
Something else that irritates the hell out of me is the need to refer to BP as British Petroleum. The President and many of his top people have made sure to refer to BP as British Petroleum at every opportunity. The company’s official name is BP! Does anyone refer to ABC as the American Broadcasting Company?
Just last week an advertisement by the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau was pulled due to it being seen as anti-British. The sign read ‘This isn’t the first time New Orleans has survived the British’, referring to the British invasion of New Orleans during the War of 1812.
In reality BP is actually multi-national. Its current chairman is a Swede. However I think it’s time for the new British PM, David Cameron, to step up and say enough. If the shakedown continues, maybe BP will just say screw it and file for bankruptcy protection. Then I would like to see who will dip into their pocket to pay for all of this!
Sane Ramblings in an Insane World 