BP “Hasn’t Thought About” What Comes Next

Does lying come so easily to oil company executives that they don’t even blink when they are constructing one whopper after another? Watch the video and see if I’m right.

One thing you can be good and well sure of is that BP has given some thought to what they will do with the oil and gas accumulation that, they say, is worth $4 billion to them. What is surprising to me is the question from the second guy. A question that assumes that BP, or any oil company for that matter, would simply turn their back on proven reserves because they had an accident there that killed people and negatively impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands. Walk away from $4 billion because they as a corporation are sensitive to public opinion that would go negative once they announce their plan of development for the field.

Clearly BP is thinking several moves ahead, including the denial that there is any planning going on for that field specifically because of the above-stated public outrage.

When the A-21 well blew out in 1969, Union Oil Company, which operated the Santa Barbara Channel oilfield at the time, took a lot of negative press, including reporting a quote from the company’s president deriding the public’s concern about “a few birds.” After killing the well, Union Oil Company went on to set 2 additional platforms on that field, platforms fully visible from the beach.

So to me, there has never been a consideration that the field would simply never be developed, and it surprised me as incredibly naïve that someone would think that.

But that doesn’t mean that BP should operate the field. BP has a track record of being grossly negligent, and how negligent they were in drilling the Macondo well awaits the results of all the investigations that are ongoing. And to be fair, we should wait and find out who was responsible for this disaster, but one thing that should be on the table as time passes is that BP either farm out the project to a safer operator, or operatorship should shift to another one of it’s partners in the field.

I really don’t think anyone wants to hear about BP being the company that develops this oil field.

I think they know that.

I just wonder how far it will go. Will BP be allowed to operate any drilling rigs in the Gulf anymore?