Big Oil spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico can be devastating on the environment. but that doesn’t mean that smaller oil spills cannot damage the environment as well. They do, just on a smaller scale. In fact, an important lesson from the Gulf Oil spill is that clean-up has to be a priority. Read to discover four key steps for cleanup and damage control.
Here are the four key steps for oil spill clean-up and damage control: Prevention, containment, the actual clean-up, and preparedness.
1) Prevention
While prevention seems not to fit, it is an important part. Oil spills or leaks can happen on a small scale, but if you have created a back-up system of containment, the leaking oil won’t have a chance to escape into the environment. this means that the problem can be solved before it ever becomes a problem.
How can you accomplish this feat? by creating extra layers of containment around the primary container. on a small scale, this means storing oil drums on spill pallets that catch any leaking or dripping oil.
2) Containment
Next, there’s containment for the event that the oil has actually escaped and is leaking or flowing into the environment, for example into the ocean or another body of water.
Now, proper containment is absolutely critical. what this means is that a barrier is set up that will keep the oil in place and prevent it form escaping and spreading.
Such containment is critical for two reasons: It will reduce damage, and it will also make clean-up much easier.
Spill berms are great for use on land, and spill booms are ideal for use on water. Booms come in absorbent and non-absorbent types. You may want both. the non-absorbent ones are especially good for keeping the oil slick contained.
3) Clean-up
Finally, the oil needs to be cleaned up. this means that it will be absorbed in some way and removed. There are a wide range of tools available to clean up oil spills, including a variety of absorbents. One of the key tools for an oil spill cleanup in a large body of water will be oil absorbent booms. They can absorb an impressive amount of water, while repelling water. Once they’re full, they can be pulled out and be replaced with fresh booms — until all the oil is absorbed.
4) Preparedness
There is a fourth key to oil spill cleanup and damage control: Be prepared. In order to minimize damage to the environment, the ability to react as fast as possible is crucial. this means that if you’re dealing with oil and there’s even the remotest chance of a leak or spill, having the necessary equipment and supplies for cleanup close at hand is a must. this is a major lesson learned from the Gulf oil spill.
BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley has told Sky News that the firm’s handling of the Gulf of Mexico spill will be viewed as a “great corporate response” in years to come.
The oil company was severely criticised by US President Barack Obama for its reaction to the environmental disaster that followed the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April last year.
But Bob Dudley said the incident would be regarded differently in future, following the company’s “monumental clean-up”.
BP’s current head also defended his predecessor Tony Hayward – who stepped down from his post following the disaster.
The British businessman is a “great oil man”, Mr Dudley said.
Mr Dudley’s remarks come as he outlined efforts to “de-risk” BP, which announced a profit of £3.2bn in the third quarter of the year.
The figure compares favourably to the £1.3bn BP made in the same quarter last year – when it had just recovered from record losses in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Mr Dudley said the business had reached a “clear turning point” and the company was now able to deliver sustainable growth and higher shareholder returns.
“Progress made through 2011 in reshaping and focussing the company is creating a stronger and safer BP,” he said.
“The past year has been unprecedented in its challenges; and BP has responded well.”
Mr Dudley told investors BP was now seeing production levels return, particularly from the high-value barrel regions of Angola, the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
Just four days ago, the company won approval to carry out its first oil drilling plan in the Gulf of Mexico since the April 2010 disaster.
“I believe we are living up to our commitments in the Gulf; learning, applying and sharing the lessons of the accident,” said Mr Dudley.
“This will further de-risk the firm.”
However, US Representative Ed Markey, a top Democrat on the natural resources committee and author of drilling safety laws, said the decision may be premature.
“Comprehensive safety legislation hasn’t passed Congress, and BP hasn’t paid the fines they owe for their spill, yet BP is being given back the keys to drill in the Gulf,” he said.
As it continues to try to recoup the billions in costs linked to the Deepwater Horizon incident, BP also announced it would sell off assets worth another £9.4bn – after already disposing of businesses worth £18bn.
It will reinvest some of this cash in “higher-growth opportunities”, particularly in exploration.
The update saw BP’s shares become the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX – news) today, up 4%.
It will bring some relief to Mr Dudley, who was under pressure after the collapse of an Arctic exploration deal with Russian state firm Rosneft.
Home Page > Law > BP Oil Spill Clean-up could Lead To more Personal Injury Lawsuits
BP Oil Spill Clean-up could Lead To more Personal Injury Lawsuits
Posted: Jun 14, 2010 |Comments: 0 |
BP’s efforts to try and clear the massive oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico could lead to the oil giant facing even more personal injury lawsuits than they already have.
Over 100 lawsuits have been filed against BP, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron International in areas of law including lost wages, business loss, lost profits and loss of use of property as well as numerous personal injury and wrongful death cases. BP are also facing having to pay compensation from cases brought under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which is one of the major laws in maritime injury law.
On top of all this, the firm is now facing a new string of personal injury lawsuits; in the form of toxic/chemical exposure and poisoning.
BP have been using the chemical Corexit 9500 in their clean up efforts. this chemical is used to break the oil into tiny chunks which makes it disperse quicker.this chemical is being sprayed below the water and on the oil on the waters surface.
However, this chemical, while being cleared to be sprayed on the waters surface, is harmful to marine life and can kill large amounts of marine life.
The chemical can also be harmful to humans, resulting in sickness and, in the worst cases of exposure, death.
The spreading of Corexit 9500 is hard to control so if it starts to spread into heavily populated areas, BP could face a huge number of personal injury cases and have to pay large amounts of personal injury compensation. this is a very real possibility as the Gulf of Mexico is a very popular area for water sports, fishing and beach activities.
People exposed to Corexit 9500 are being advised to contact their doctor straight away and those who feel they may have a personal injury case and are owed compensation from BP for this exposure are encouraged to contact a personal injury attorney/lawyer immediately.
For BP, the situation just seems to get worse and worse and this cleanup may only be the tip of the issues they will have to deal with in the coming months and years.
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There are many reasons to consider your personal injury legal case. Since the BP oil spill, these reasons have greatly increased
There are many reasons to consider your personal injury legal case. Since the BP oil spill, these reasons have greatly increased. Find out why this is important.
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Rigzone reported that the U.S. lawmakers have decided to allow BP to bid on new oil-drilling leases that go up for sale in the Gulf of Mexico later in 2011.
As quoted in the market news:
While testifying at a House hearing Thursday, offshore safety chief Michael Bromwich said his agency “considered and thought about this issue quite a lot,” but eventually determined to allow the British oil giant to bid for leases in an upcoming auction known as Lease Sale 218.
“We don’t think it’s appropriate [to exclude BP] in these circumstances,” said Bromwich, director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
On Wednesday, the Interior Department issued its first set of citations related to the spill at the Deepwater Horizon rig, accusing BP and two of its contractors of breaking several rules. the citations are likely to carry fines.
In the August 2011 issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology, two scientists report that microbes are key ingredients to oil spill cleanups.
Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Ron Atlas, a University of Louisville biology professor, looked back at two of the worst oil spills in U.S. history: last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and 1989′s Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska. the ecosystems in the two cases were very different, these scientists say, but in both cases microorganisms played a major role in “cleaning” the spilled oil. as Hazen told the press:
The fate of all oil spills … depends upon a unique set of circumstances that will govern risk and impacts, including the volume of oil spilled, the chemical nature of the oil, and the ecosystems with their specific environmental conditions impacted by the spilled oil. however, the one common denominator is the cosmopolitan nature of oil-degrading microbes.
In their paper, the scientists used data analysis to examine the Exxon Valdez spill of March 24, 1989, which occurred when the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound. the tanker dumped about 11 million gallons of crude oil from Alaska’s North Slope, which turned into a surface slick. Currents and winds washed much of the oil onto shore, and that shoreline mess became a major focus of cleanup efforts. Hazen said:
Because of the difficulty of achieving sufficient oil removal by physical washing and collection … bioremediation became a prime candidate for continuing treatment of the shoreline. Field tests showed that the addition of fertilizer enhanced the rates of biodegradation by the indigenous hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms, resulting in total petroleum-hydrocarbon losses as high as 1.2 percent per day. Within a few weeks of the spill, about 25 to 30 percent of the total hydrocarbon in the oil originally stranded on Prince William Sound shorelines had been degraded, and by 1992 the length of shoreline still containing any significant amount of oil was 6.4 miles [just over 10 kilometers], or about 1.3 percent of the shoreline originally oiled in 1989.
That’s a technical way of saying that, when nitrogen was added to nearby Alaskan water, (native) microbe levels spiked. These oil-eating microbes then reduced the amount of oil from the spill.
In the case of another big oil spill – the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico – microbial activity also reduced the severity of the spill. but, as Hazen’s press release explains, the situation in the Gulf of Mexico was different from the situation in Alaska:
Last year’s BP Deepwater Horizon spill was the result of an explosion of the drilling rig on April 20, 2010 that led to an uncontrolled blowout of the wellhead. the spill released an estimated 4.9 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) of light crude oil – more than an order of magnitude greater in total volume of oil than the Exxon Valdez spill – and considerable amounts of natural gas (methane). Light crude is more inherently biodegradable initially than heavy crude, and in contrast to the relatively pristine conditions of Prince William Sound, the Gulf of Mexico experiences numerous natural seeps of oil and has been the site of other spills from drilling rigs, such as the IXTOC well blowout of 1979.
Oily organic residue in the Gulf of Mexico. Image Credit: Mandy Joye
That is to say, the Gulf of Mexico today is in some sense more accustomed to the presence of oil and methane than Alaska’s more pristine waters. in addition, the Gulf spill, while greater in sheer volume, was a little easier to handle in terms of its chemical makeup – the oil was lighter, and it dispersed like a cloud throughout the water, rather than as a surface slick.
Nevertheless, bacteria played an important role in gobbling up oil from the 2010 Gulf spill, too. Hazen’s team was able to determine that microbes native to the Gulf of Mexico broke down the oil plume to “virtually undetectable levels” just a few weeks after the gushing well was sealed. They also said:
… up to 40 percent of the oil was lost in the water column between the wellhead and the surface, largely due to dissolution and mixing as the oil moved to the surface, and evaporation as soon as it reached the surface.
It’s important to note that the spill is so recent that many further studies will be needed to determine exactly what effect microbes (and added dispersal agents) had on the spill, but, the scientists said:
When oil is highly dispersed in the water column and where microbial populations are well adapted to hydrocarbon exposure, such as in Gulf of Mexico waters, biodegradation of oil proceeds very rapidly.
They also added that, in the future, oil spill first-responders need to assess, as quickly as possible, how both natural and “enhanced” microbial degradation could be used to minimize the risk and impact of an oil spill on the environment.
Bottom line: Microorganisms can play a major role in cleaning up spilled oil, even in different kinds of ecosystems. Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Ron Atlas, a University of Louisville biology professor, looked back at two of the worst oil spills in U.S. history: 2010′s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and 1989′s Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska. They found that, in both cases, microbes accelerated oil reduction.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig is now considered the largest in US offshore history. Below is a chronology of the spill and its impact:
BP is back in the spotlight after a damning report from a US presidential commission, which accuses BP of taking “short cuts” which led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
The UK Energy and Climate Change Select Committee also hears evidence on deepwater drilling. It says companies have been “cutting and pasting” their plans for disasters without tailoring their responses to individual wells.
November (Berlin: NBXB.BE – news) 24
Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of BP’s fund for victims, encourages claimants to file early for final settlements to get the most generous terms.
BP increases its estimate of the likely cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill to $40bn from $32bn.
The Gulf Coast Claims Facility, created to compensate people and businesses, says it has paid $1.55bn in claims since it took over the process from BP on August 23.
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL – news) , the oilfield services company that cemented the blown-out well, says a BP report laying the blame on the cement job offers a questionable account of events and “erroneous conclusions”.
BP permanently “kills” the leaking well. Researchers later put the total damage of the spill at 4.4m barrels of oil.
BP’s relief well intercepts the Macondo well.
In an internal report into the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP blamed poor cement job, mistakes by contractors and sequence of other errors for the worst oil spill in US history.
BP wins permission from the US government to start pumping cement into the well, the next stage in permanently plugging the source of the spill.
The US government announces that three quarters of the oil that has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico has been cleaned up or broken down by natural forces.
BP says it has finally managed to halt the flow of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico but that the problem will not be completely resolved until a relief well is drilled.
Tests on the cap resume. BP’s US share price rise 8pc after it announces that it has stopped its Gulf of Mexico leak for the first time since April .
Tests begin on the new cap, but are delayed for ‘additional analysis’ .
BP successfully installs the new cap , known as top Hat 10, which it hopes will contain all the oil, until relief wells are completed in August that will sort out the problem for good. 0508201
BP removes a cap installed on June 4, which was leaking oil because it had to be fitted over a jagged cut in the well pipe, in anticipation of putting on a new cap. This means oil escapes unhindered into the Gulf for some 48 hours.
A federal appeals court rejects the Obama administration’s effort to restore an offshore deepwater drilling moratorium , opening the door for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to resume while the legal fight continues.
Tests show tar balls washed up on the Texas coast are from the spill, meaning every US Gulf state – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and now Texas – has been soiled by the spill.
Summer storms push oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill deeper into Louisiana’s wetlands and temporarily slow efforts to contain damage. The storms are also responsible for washing oil into Lake Pontchartrain, bordering New Orleans, further polluting Mississippi’s beaches and halting tests on a supertanker adapted to skim large quantities of oil from the surface.
BP says that the cost of the spill has reached $3.12bn.
A supertanker converted into a “super skimmer” begins tests. The vessel can remove up to 500,000 barrels of oil and water from the sea surface a day.
BP shares gain, with traders initially citing talk, quickly shot down, that it had capped the leaking well.
Hurricane Alex , later downgraded to a tropical storm, moves slowly in Gulf waters, disrupting the cleanup, and threatening to push more oily water onshore. President Obama formally directs officials to draw up a long-term economic and environmental plan to help the Gulf Coast region get back on its feet after the oil spill.
Russia (EUREX: OMXR.EX – news) ‘s deputy prime minister said he expected Hayward to resign soon.
A US judge refuses to put on hold his decision to lift a ban on deepwater drilling imposed after the spill.
Hayward hands day-to-day control of the spill operation to Bob Dudley – a reflection, says BP, of the need for the CEO to return to other aspects of the business.
Internal BP document released by US congressman shows BP estimates that a worst-case scenario rate could be 100,000 barrels a day . This is far higher than the US government estimate of 60,000 barrels a day.
Anadarko Petroleum (Stuttgart: 871766 – news) , part owner of the gushing well, says BP’s behavior before the blowout was “reckless” and likely represented “gross negligence or willful misconduct” that would affect obligations of the well owners under their operating agreement.
Hayward faces the wrath of US lawmakers as he appears before a congressional hearing. he apologizes for the spill and says everything is being done to stop it. Members of Congress accuse BP of cutting corners for the sake of profit.
David Cameron calls for the company to be protected from excessive compensation claims after Barack Obama makes it agree to potentially unlimited damages.
The company suspends dividend payments for the rest of the year. It also agrees to finance a $20bn (£13.5bn) clean-up and compensation fund .
Barack Obama uses a televised address to accuse the British oil giant of “recklessness” and announces the appointment of Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, as his new “oil tsar” for the region.
International ratings agency Fitch slashes BP’s credit rating six notches from “AA” to ‘near junk’ “BBB” rating.
Shares fall as much as nine per cent in Monday trading after President Obama compares the oil spill’s impact to that of the 9/11 terror attacks .
He says: “In the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11…I think this disaster is going to shape how we think about the environment and energy for many years to come.”
Barack Obama demands more money from BP to meet the cost of handling the crisis, ahead of a meeting of the BP board where a decision will be taken over whether to freeze dividend payouts.
David Cameron and Barack Obama hold their first conversation about the spillage, and the President assures the Prime Minister during a 30-minute telephone discussion that his public criticism of the company has “nothing to do with national identity”.
David Cameron tells BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg during a telephone conversation that it is in everyone’s interest for the company to remain financially stable and strong.
It came after Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, warned against allowing the disaster to descend into a “tit for tat political diplomatic spat”.
The US government signals it will take legal action to force BP to stop paying a dividend to shareholders. The company’s shares tumble .
David Cameron refuses to defend the company in the wake of Barack Obama’s attack, saying he “completely understands” the American government’s frustration.
John Napier, the chairman of insurer RSA, writes to Barack Obama to criticise his “prejudicial” approach to BP and urges him to stop his relentless criticism of the company.
BP buys the top Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG – news) and Yahoo (NasdaqGS: YHOO – news) ! search result for terms like “oil spill” in a bid to recover its public image .
Obama is accused of holding “his boot on the throat” of British pensioners after his attacks on BP are blamed for wiping billions off the company’s value.
The firm’s share price falls a further 17.35p to 391.55p representing a 40 per cent drop on the 655p price of a share two months ago.
Norway bans new deepwater oil drilling in the North Sea in a sign that panic over BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill is spreading.
Meanwhile, the US President attacks Mr Hayward, saying he should have been sacked for tactless comments made after the spill.
BP says a second containment system to stem the leak should be ready by “mid-June” , as costs of the clean-up rise to £860 million and the total share-price slump reaches 30 per cent.
BP shares tumble a further 15 per cent after it admits its “top kill” operation was unsuccessful . It emerges that the company has lost a quarter £30 billion of its market value since the explosion.
Meanwhile, documents emerge showing that the firm was given permission to drill in the Gulf of Mexico after promising it was equipped to deal with a spill 10 times larger than the current leak.
Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, announces he will visit the site of the spill for the first time on Tuesday, increasing speculation that a criminal investigation will be launched.
may 28
BP attempts a “top kill” operation to plug the spill . The company admits that the procedure has never before been attempted at such depths and its “ultimate success” is uncertain.
The total cost to the firm reaches around £638 million as Barack Obama states that BP would “pay every dime” for the damage caused and criticised the “cosy and sometimes corrupt” relationship between regulators and the oil industry.
may 18
Mr Hayward claims the environmental impact of the spill will be “very, very modest” . his reassurances coincide with the discovery of the first tar balls from the spill off Florida.
Experts begin to fear that currents could be directing a slick the size of Luxembourg towards US coastal areas.
The US government announces it is nearly tripling the size of an area in the Gulf of Mexico that is closed to fishing .
may 17
Shares rise as BP says it is capturing about a fifth of the estimated oil gushing from the ruptured well by using a pipe to divert it from the sea bed onto a ship.
may 12
James Dupree, BP’s senior vice president for the Gulf, admits during congressional hearings in the US that a safety valve protecting the oil well failed a key pressure test just hours before the explosion.
may 10
BP admits it has dramatically underestimated the cost of the leak and that it has already reached around £240 million .
may 3
Work begins on a drilling a relief well to isolate the leak as Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, indicates that the firm will seek compensation from Transocean (NYSE: RIG – news) .
The slump in BP share prices reaches 15 per cent as some experts predict the total compensation and clean-up bill could be around £10.6 billion .
One of the biggest oil containment operations ever attempted begins, with a flotilla of nearly 200 boats sent to tackle the spill.
City analysts including Morgan Stanley (EUREX: DWDF.EX – news) predict that the disaster could cost BP between £1 billion and £3 billion as shrimpers in the state of Louisiana file the first class-action lawsuits against BP and the platform’s owners.
BP reports that its first-quarter profits more than double to £3.65 billion following a rise in oil prices .
The US Coast Guard estimates that the rig is leaking oil at the rate of up to 8,000 barrels a day. two remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) are sent down to attempt to cap the well, but prove unsuccessful.
another two ROVs are dispatched in an attempt to activate the blowout preventer a giant series of pipes and valves that could staunch the leak but again prove unsuccessful.
An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, around 40 miles south east of Louisiana, kills 11 workers and injures 17 others .
The rig is owned and operated by Transocean, a company hired by BP to carry out the drilling work.
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The new documents in a securities fraud class action suit allege that the company "terminated" Curtis Jackson, then a senior manager for Gulf of Mexico operations, and Phil Dziubinski, a senior safety official at BP Alaska who warned of worker fatigue from extensive overtime.
Dziubinski’s quarrel with BP was described earlier in the Wall Street Journal, which said he and BP had reached a confidential settlement.
The new filing also says that Kevin Lacy, described as BP’s senior vice president for drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico, resigned in late 2009 "because of disagreements with BP over its lack of commitment to process safety." the lawsuit says that Lacy had been recruited from Chevron to improve BP’s drilling protocols.
BP spokesman Scott Dean said the company would not comment on pending litigation.
The investors, represented by the firms Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll of Washington and Berman DeValerio of Boston, produced what they said was an internal BP document that said: "It’s become apparent that process-safety major hazards and risks are not fully understood by engineering or line operating personnel. Insufficient awareness is leading to missed signals that precede incidents and response after incidents, both of which increases the potential for and severity of process-safety related incidents."
Wednesday, 12 January 2011, 3:53 pmPress Release: Greenpeace new Zealand
US oil spill report a warning for NZ not to invitedeepwater oil industry here
Greenpeace is calling onthe Government to pay heed to President Obama’scommissioned report on the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill –and cancel all new offshore oil drilling tenders andpermits.
This comes as the official report into thedisaster by The National Commission on the BP DeepwaterHorizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, declares that thespill was a result of cost cutting and systemic failureswithin the oil industry – an industry our Government isbending over backwards to bring to new Zealand.
Thereport is a damning indictment on the oil industry’srelentless push into ever more dangerous deep waterexploration. it recommends changes in almost every area,from safety and environmental practices, safety training,drilling technology, and containment and clean-uptechnology, to preparedness, corporate culture, andmanagement behaviour.
“but the elephant in the Gulfproblem is that irrespective of all the technology andpolicies recommended by the report, they still won’t fixthe much bigger problem that is climate change. Once you addthat into the mix, the common sense response to theDeepwater Horizon disaster is to ban deepwater drillingaltogether,” says Greenpeace NZ Climate Campaigner NathanArgent.
Greenpeace new Zealand is therefore calling on theGovernment to cancel all deepwater exploration permits, ascompanies like Anadarko, which owns a quarter of BP’sblown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, explore for oiloff our pristine coastlines.
“The commission’sfindings should be a wake-up call for Gerry Brownlee. it isclear that existing safety measures are woefully inadequateto prevent a similar, catastrophic oil spill here in NewZealand,” says Argent.
In December last year, MinisterBrownlee admitted that there is not an adequateenvironmental and health and safety regulatory regime inplace to allow the Government’s planned expansion ofoffshore oil exploration.*
‘Deepwater’ or‘offshore’ oil-related activities are defined as thosethat take place in water that is more than 200 metres deep.
“when things go wrong at these extreme and challengingdepths, it’s incredibly hard to fix and new Zealand simplydoesn’t have the safeguards or the contingency to dealwith such an event. just imagine the impact of an oil spilloff Opotiki, the Caitlins, or the Marlborough Sounds,”says Argent.
The report also recommends that lawmakersbegin a transition to a cleaner, more energy-efficientfuture for reasons of energy security, and because of theneed to reduce climate-wrecking emissions.
“TheGovernment must abandon its reckless efforts to subsidisethe dirty oil industry of the past and embrace the cleaner,smarter technologies of the future. It’s time to go beyondoil and start investing in the home grown, world class cleantechnologies that will help in the fight against climatechange, and be the foundation of a sustainable 21st Centuryeconomy,” Argentsays.
Alex Brandon / The Associated Press archiveMichael Bromwich, left, was accompanied by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, right, during a Senate subcommittee hearing on the reorganization of the Minerals Management Service in June.
Today, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling released its final report on the causes of the tragedy that killed 11 men and spilled more than four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer.
While the commission has been hard at work investigating and developing recommendations, we have — over the past eight months — launched an aggressive reorganization and have dramatically increased safety standards and oversight of the oil and gas industry. in so doing, we have already implemented several of the key reforms the commission has made clear are necessary.
The commission’s report comes at an important time. as the oil spill fades from the national headlines, political pressure is growing to roll back the safety and environmental protection standards we have put in place since April 2010. But to turn back the clock and ignore the lessons of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill would be a grave and risky mistake.
Since the explosion and subsequent oil spill, the Department of Interior has undertaken a massive overhaul of the regulatory agency responsible for overseeing offshore oil and gas operations. we are eliminating conflicts in the agency’s multiple missions, strengthening our enforcement and regulatory capabilities, expanding our team of inspectors — and have created an internal review unit to root out problems within the agency and in industry. our goal is to build an agency with the resources and tools needed to provide effective, tough and fair oversight of offshore oil and gas operations.
As part of our reform agenda, we also have worked with oil and gas companies to ensure they are strengthening their safety practices, modernizing their equipment and developing the tools needed to prevent and respond to deepwater blowouts.
Companies are now required to meet new standards we have set for blowout preventers, well design, cementing practices, risk management and worst-case offshore oil discharges. we have made significant progress over the last eight months, but these reforms must continue. we will continue to work with industry to ensure they happen as quickly as possible.
The type of systemic reform we are implementing is not easy — nor can it be completed overnight — but everyone has a stake in its success.
We recognize that regulatory changes and new safety standards create new challenges for the oil and gas industry. as these changes occur, we therefore have an obligation to provide as much clarity, certainty and consistency as possible.
Industry, for its part, must recognize that near-term investments in safety will pay dividends over the long-term. Reducing the risk of spills and accidents is both the right thing to do and is good business. Technical advancements in drilling, blowout containment, and spill response techniques can help, but the culture within the industry also needs to change so that safety and risk management permeates every decision on every rig and platform, every day.
Today, oil and gas exploration throughout the Gulf of Mexico is resuming as oil and gas operations come into compliance with post-Deepwater Horizon safety requirements. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) will continue processing drilling plans and applications to drill in the shallow and deepwater. Production from existing wells in the Gulf has continued unabated in the last year, and — without question — the Gulf of Mexico is — and will remain — a vital source for America’s energy supplies for years to come.
We are on the right track toward safer, more environmentally responsible oil and gas production on the Outer Continental Shelf, and — as the commission has made clear — now is not the time to retreat from those efforts.
We must continue to press forward with reforms, guided by the findings of the commission and other investigations, with the support of Congress, and aided by the commitment from forward-thinking companies.
Because oil and gas development will continue to play a central role in meeting our nation’s energy needs, we must get these important reforms right, so that we never again experience another Deepwater Horizon.
Ken Salazar is secretary of the Interior and Michael R. Bromwich is director of the Bureau of Ocean, Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — Berkshire Hathaway inc., the holding company run by Warren Buffett, will expand insurance coverage for oil and gas drilling as the U.S. lawmakers debate removing a liability cap after BP Plc’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Berkshire will provide additional coverage of as much as $250 million on policies of up to $2.5 billion underwritten by other insurers, Willis Group Holdings Plc, the London-based company that will broker the deals, said today in a statement. The policies will cover energy businesses including offshore drilling. U.S. legislators have proposed bills that would eliminate a $75 million liability cap for oil spills.
Buffett sees opportunity amid fallout from the BP spill, said Paul Howard, director of research at Solstice Investment Research in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Berkshire, based in Omaha, Nebraska, has reined in other forms of catastrophe coverage as reinsurance rates fall.
“this is probably another example of Buffett being opportunistic,” said Howard. “in general, he’s been pulling back on his catastrophe lines because he doesn’t think the pricing has been adequate for the risk that they’re taking.”
BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers, injuring 17, and destroying Transocean Ltd.’s $365 million Deepwater Horizon rig. Crude oil spewed into the Gulf for 87 days. BP has set aside $40 billion to pay for cleanup and litigation from the spill and is paying into a $20 billion escrow account to handle claims from individuals.
“while not a direct response to the Deepwater Horizon spill, this facility is a response to requests from the industry for access to additional sources of capacity,” Ingrid Booth, a spokeswoman for Willis, said in an e-mail.
Insurance rates rose by 50 percent for offshore rigs in the wake of the BP spill, Moody’s Investors Service said in June.
Global prices for reinsurance were set to decline 7.5 percent for policies being renewed as of Jan. 1, the reinsurance brokerage of Marsh & McLennan Cos. said last month. Rates fell 6 percent a year ago. Investment returns and “subdued” losses led to record capital levels, the broker said.
Munich re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, said last month that it plans to work with the three largest insurance brokers, Willis, Marsh and Aon Corp., to develop coverage for deepwater drilling in U.S. waters.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in July that would have eliminated the liability cap for oil spills. an energy bill in the Senate that contained a similar measure stalled in August.
Buffett didn’t respond to a request for comment e-mailed to his assistant, Carrie Kizer.
–With assistance from Andrew Frye in new York, Oliver Suess in Munich and Kevin Crowley in London. Editors: Dan Reichl, Dan Kraut.
To contact the reporter on this story: Noah Buhayar in new York at
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at
Telegraph staff, 17:08, Friday 25 February 2011
Wednesday, 12 January 2011, 3:53 pm Press Release: Greenpeace new Zealand
Alex Brandon / The Associated Press archiveMichael Bromwich, left, was accompanied by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, right, during a Senate subcommittee hearing on the reorganization of the Minerals Management Service in June.
January 06, 2011, 1:53 AM EST