So, BP has accepted full responsibility for its actions in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon on April 22, 2010, and its actions that have created the largest oil spill in U.S. history in the Gulf of Mexico. Are they totally to blame? Where are Transocean , Cameron, Halliburton, and the United States Government in all of this?
Yesterday, President Obama met with Tony Hayward, BP’s CEO, and an agreement was reached to establish a 20 billion dollar claims fund for the Gulf Disaster. Is it enough? Clearly, BP has a large amount of liability in this matter, but what about the other factors that contributed to BP having the opportunity to pollute North America’s oceans?
If BP is such an oil giant, then why do they need to subcontract to another company to cement their wells? Obviously, this is a specialized portion of the process, and liability should not be solely on BP due to this. Halliburton has been liable in numerous well blowouts in the past due to poor cementing, and it is obvious that they are liable in this disaster to some degree.
In offering a client an option, the option has to be usable. If the option leads to catastrophe, then it was not a viable option. Halliburton is guilty in poorly advising BP, and contributing, in part, to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico because of their lack of professional foresight in the Deepwater Horizon’s well. Either Halliburton knew the well would blow, or they were negligent. Either way, they are financially liable, and, possibly, criminally liable for the disaster.
If BP was recklessly using a piece of rented equipment and the equipment’s company officials, who were present, did not stop it, then they are liable, too. They have to have known that the outcome would have been disastrous. The contract should have been ended or rendered null immediately, and the drilling should have ceased. Transocean lacked foresight, and it is criminally and financially liable similarly to BP.
Cameron is the least liable of the oil companies involved because they were just the manufacturer of the blowout preventer. Should it have worked? If the equipment was being used properly, they should be liable, too. BP, however, most definitely chose not to use this equipment properly as their track record has shown with their use of other equipment. Clearly, someone on Transocean’s rig tampered with the blow out preventer, whether it was Transocean or BP is not known. The last inspection of the BOP on the Deepwater Horizon was 5 years prior to the blowout.
The U.S. Government granted permits without the correct legal requirements for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico with blatant disregard for the United State’s ecology, economy, and people. How can the U.S. Government manhandle a company lawfully when it endorsed unlawful actions leading up to the disaster? I am a capitalist, and I believe in a laissez fair approach to markets. This, however, is ridiculous. This could be effectively viewed by BP, Transocean , Cameron, and Halliburton, as entrapment. Would BP, Transocean , Cameron, and Halliburton have taken on the risks that they did if the U.S. oil industry was correctly regulated? Is the United States Government entrapping oil companies because of its lack of foresight in preventing ecologic, financial, and social cataclysms?
Clearly, BP is liable but not solely. The world must require oil companies to drill mandatory relief wells in all waters to preserve ecologies, way of life, capitalism, and petrochemical production. Life is not possible without oil or the oceans. The way oil extraction is being regulated needs to change immediately and the procedures that are in place need to be corrected to make drilling reliably safe. The cost of drilling a relief well is miniscule in comparison to the cost of attempting to repair ecologic, social, economic, and governmental tragedies caused by unnecessary preventable spilt oil. Would requiring relief wells end drilling in the Gulf of Mexico? Statements against mandatory relief well drilling are false and rooted illogically in greed.
High estimates of drilling mandatory relief wells are about $1,400, 000 dollars per well in the deep sea. At $60 a barrel, oil companies will be able to offset costs of drilling relief wells after about 30 days of oil extraction from a production well at full capacity. Considering that most of these wells will be used for multiple decades to extract oil, it seems like a small price to pay for some ecologic, social, economic, and governmental piece of mind. Our demand for oil will drive us to the oceans, we must do it responsibly.
