Sunday, June 20, 2010
BP chief “deeply sorry” about oil spill
From The Hindu
In a desperate bid to stave-off a surge off public anger that has now been engulfing oil major British Petroleum for nearly two months, the company’s CEO Tony Howard today said he was “deeply sorry.”
Facing a grilling during a hearing by the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, Mr. Hayward said, “I want to speak directly to the people who live and work in the Gulf region: I know that this incident has profoundly impacted lives and caused turmoil, and I deeply regret that.”
Even as the Obama administration cranked up the heat on BP, the company announced that it would commit around $20 billion to an escrow account that would be used to help mitigate the costs of cleaning up the enormous spill from the BP-run Deepwater Horizon offshore rig.
On Wednesday President Barack Obama and senior White House staff met with Mr. Hayward and top BP executives to lay out their demands regarding the escrow account and the costs that they expected BP would make good.
According to reports Representative Henry Waxman of California said, “BP cut corner after corner...and they were apparently oblivious as to what was happening,” during the hearing which was conducted by the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “Now the whole Gulf Coast is paying the price,” he reportedly said.
Further Representative Joe Barton of Texas noted, “The picture emerging in this investigation is not one of technological limits, but of unsafe industry practices… It is BP's decision making that was a critical factor in this incident.”
Regarding the escrow fund, BP said in statement that an agreement was reached to create a $20 billion claims fund over the next three and a half years on the basis that BP would initially make payments of $3 billion in the third quarter of 2010 and $2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010. “These will be followed by a payment of $1.25bn per quarter until a total of $20bn has been paid in,” the company noted.
Settling claims
The fund would be available to satisfy claims such as natural resource damages and state and local response costs and fines and penalties would be excluded from the fund and paid separately. Payments from the fund would be made as they are adjudicated, whether by the Independent Claims Facility (ICF) or by a court, or as agreed by BP, the company said. It added that the ICF would be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, who also served as President Obama’s “pay tsar” in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
In a desperate bid to stave-off a surge off public anger that has now been engulfing oil major British Petroleum for nearly two months, the company’s CEO Tony Howard today said he was “deeply sorry.”
Facing a grilling during a hearing by the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, Mr. Hayward said, “I want to speak directly to the people who live and work in the Gulf region: I know that this incident has profoundly impacted lives and caused turmoil, and I deeply regret that.”
Even as the Obama administration cranked up the heat on BP, the company announced that it would commit around $20 billion to an escrow account that would be used to help mitigate the costs of cleaning up the enormous spill from the BP-run Deepwater Horizon offshore rig.
On Wednesday President Barack Obama and senior White House staff met with Mr. Hayward and top BP executives to lay out their demands regarding the escrow account and the costs that they expected BP would make good.
According to reports Representative Henry Waxman of California said, “BP cut corner after corner...and they were apparently oblivious as to what was happening,” during the hearing which was conducted by the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “Now the whole Gulf Coast is paying the price,” he reportedly said.
Further Representative Joe Barton of Texas noted, “The picture emerging in this investigation is not one of technological limits, but of unsafe industry practices… It is BP's decision making that was a critical factor in this incident.”
Regarding the escrow fund, BP said in statement that an agreement was reached to create a $20 billion claims fund over the next three and a half years on the basis that BP would initially make payments of $3 billion in the third quarter of 2010 and $2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010. “These will be followed by a payment of $1.25bn per quarter until a total of $20bn has been paid in,” the company noted.
Settling claims
The fund would be available to satisfy claims such as natural resource damages and state and local response costs and fines and penalties would be excluded from the fund and paid separately. Payments from the fund would be made as they are adjudicated, whether by the Independent Claims Facility (ICF) or by a court, or as agreed by BP, the company said. It added that the ICF would be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, who also served as President Obama’s “pay tsar” in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Labels: Barack Obama, British Petroleum, claims fund, Gulf Coast, oil spill
Saturday, June 05, 2010
"Oilgate" may stain Obama presidency
It is possible that the oil from a damaged offshore rig may continue leaking into the Gulf of Mexico until August and cause the largest environmental catastrophe in the United States' history. The grim prognosis emerged even as rig owner British Petroleum (BP) admitted that its much-touted "top kill" operation had failed to stem the surge of oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded on April 20.
The enormity of the damage that has already occurred combined with the inability of the administration to stop the leak, has led to the possibility that "Oilgate" may have a significant political fallout and irreparably damage the Obama presidency as well.
In a statement BP said, the "top kill" procedure intended to kill the well by injecting heavy drilling fluids through the blow-out preventer (BOP) on the seabed, into the well. However it said that despite pumping over 30,000 barrels of heavy mud in three attempts, and deploying a wide range of different bridging materials, "the operation did not overcome the flow from the well".
While there are several further steps that BP will take to halt the flow of oil, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, leading the effort to curtail the spill, said, "The ultimate solution is going to be to drill a relief well, take the pressure off that well and cap it. That will be sometime in August. We don't want to wait that long."
"Assault on the people"
President Obama echoed some of the frustrations of those affected in states such as Louisiana, when he said that every day that the leak continued was an assault on the people of the Gulf Coast region and their livelihoods.
He added, "It is as enraging as it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained, until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimised by this manmade disaster are made whole."
On the unsuccessful efforts to stop the leak Mr. Obama said, "While we initially received optimistic reports about the procedure, it is now clear that it has not worked. Rear Admiral Mary Landry today directed BP to launch a new procedure whereby the riser pipe will be cut and a containment structure fitted over the leak."
BP confirmed that it had received government permission to move to the next step in the subsea operations, the deployment of the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Cap Containment System. This procedure would entail cutting and removing the damaged riser from the top of the failed BOP to leave a cleanly-cut pipe at the top of the BOP's LMRP, BP explained.
The cap designed to connect to a riser of a surface-level drillship, will be placed over the LMRP "with the intention of capturing most of the oil and gas flowing from the well". BP added the LMRP cap would be connected in approximately four days.
"This operation has not been previously carried out in 5,000 feet of water and the successful deployment of the containment system cannot be assured," BP warned.
Since the crisis unfolded, the Obama administration has come under fire from various quarters, including Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, who recently expressed frustration at the delays in containing the damage to his state's coastline, which had seriously endangered its marine life and associated livelihoods.
Labels: BP, Gulf Coast, LMRP, oil spill, President Obama
Sunday, May 02, 2010
BP to blame for spill, says Obama
From The Hindu
On the rapidly worsening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. President Barack Obama said: “British Petroleum [BP] is ultimately responsible under the law for paying the costs of response and cleanup operations.”
But he urged “out of an abundance of caution and mindful of the new information,” that the U.S. should position its resources to “aggressively” confront this incident.
The Deepwater Horizon rig, operated by BP, sank on April 22 following an explosion that killed 11 workers. It has reportedly been leaking nearly 5,000 barrels a day, prompting fears that it could equal the environmentally devastating Exxon Valdez spill near Alaska in 1989.
And the President dispatched his Secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security and other officials to the Gulf Coast.
He said he expected their reports from the ground immediately.
Mr. Obama said there were five “staging areas” to protect sensitive shorelines. Approximately 1,900 federal personnel, more than 300 response vessels and aircraft were on the scene and approximately 217,000 feet of protective boom — a surface level barrier to contain the slick's spread — had been laid already, he said.
Response
The administration repeatedly underscored that it would hold the oil giant BP responsible rather than the taxpayer.
Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said, “We will continue to push BP to engage in the strongest response possible. We will continue to oversee their efforts, to add to those efforts where we deem necessary, and to ensure, again, that under the law, that the taxpayers of the United States ultimately are reimbursed for those efforts.”
On the rapidly worsening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. President Barack Obama said: “British Petroleum [BP] is ultimately responsible under the law for paying the costs of response and cleanup operations.”
But he urged “out of an abundance of caution and mindful of the new information,” that the U.S. should position its resources to “aggressively” confront this incident.
The Deepwater Horizon rig, operated by BP, sank on April 22 following an explosion that killed 11 workers. It has reportedly been leaking nearly 5,000 barrels a day, prompting fears that it could equal the environmentally devastating Exxon Valdez spill near Alaska in 1989.
And the President dispatched his Secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security and other officials to the Gulf Coast.
He said he expected their reports from the ground immediately.
Mr. Obama said there were five “staging areas” to protect sensitive shorelines. Approximately 1,900 federal personnel, more than 300 response vessels and aircraft were on the scene and approximately 217,000 feet of protective boom — a surface level barrier to contain the slick's spread — had been laid already, he said.
Response
The administration repeatedly underscored that it would hold the oil giant BP responsible rather than the taxpayer.
Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said, “We will continue to push BP to engage in the strongest response possible. We will continue to oversee their efforts, to add to those efforts where we deem necessary, and to ensure, again, that under the law, that the taxpayers of the United States ultimately are reimbursed for those efforts.”
Labels: Barack Obama, Gulf Coast, oil spill
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