BP Oil Spill Jordan Biggar, John Cranney, Thomas Sledzik,
Zachary Metea, and Anthony Pisello Slide 2 BPs Safety History
Following the Deepwater Horizon spill it was clear safety is not a
priority of BP Over the years they have had several incidents in
the United States Several issues were found in Alaska by lawyers.
These included using equipment long after it should have been
replaced, and intimidating workers In 2000, a BP pipeline in Alaska
ruptured due to corroding equipment Corroding tanks were found in
California A Texas refinery exploded in 2005 Slide 3 BPs Safety
History BPs neglectful safety habits caught up again on April 22,
2010 Concurrent with their past, cost cutting measures were also
taken on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig BP pressured the crew to
drill faster Several safety sensors and valves had been broken
previous to the push With the increased pace safety systems failed
It was fully known that the new pace would stress the system and
that damages had already occurred Slide 4 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
11 men were killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion backup system
failed well spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico Made multiple
attempts to close the well Drilling relief wells Covering with caps
Top kill Closed the well with a cap July 2010 Federal Government
declared dead September 2010 Slide 5 Affects of Oil Spill Estimated
185 million gallons of oil in Gulf of Mexico In August 2010
estimated 7,000 birds, sea turtles and dolphins found dead in the
gulf since oil spill Crippled Louisiana shrimping industry
Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Florida Slide 6 BPs Public
Relation Strategy Public image vs. Legal recourses Take
responsibility without claiming to be responsible Clean up the
spill Pay for damages Enough to make them look good without
spending too much Full Disclosure/Transparency: Good for PR Bad for
legal hearings Slide 7 BP CEO Tony Haywards Apology Slide 8 BP
Public Relations Tony Haywards TV spot: A tragedy that never should
have happened No connection to BP honor all legitimate claims
Legitimate never defined Allows BP to deny any claims they want
Haywards comments and actions Id like my life back Undermines the
suffering of the people really affected by the spill Slide 9 What
steps should BP also take towards fixing public relations?
1.Identify this as an unusual case. For BP -How deep the rig was
-There was no backup remote system 2.Establish these cases as the
cause of so much damage. For BP -There was too much pressure at
those depths. -It wouldnt have spilled so much with a backup system
3. Start steps to make public think these cases are dealt with. For
BP -Could make no more rigs that deep (cost effective) -Make sure
every rig has a remote backup system Slide 10 What steps has BP
taken towards fixing public relations? BP has worked more on
repairing damages and less on making sure this does not happen
again. 1.Seal the well 2.Clean the environment 3.Restore the
wildlife Slide 11 How BP could have prevented this PR disaster Use
safer Oil rigs: BP had been using Transocean semi- submersible rigs
which had been cited for failing quality and performance in the
past few years. BP should have known and took into more
consideration the failing quality of the company that had been
manufacturing their drilling rigs. The company also should have had
a better plan in place in case there was a spill or explosion
aboard the rig They expected that since the rig was only 44 miles
from shore that no significant impacts would be expected. Slide 12
Public Criticism Here you can see just how much the public has
reacted to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico The criticisms have
not only come from the government and activists but are now coming
from popular culture as well Tony Hayward CEO, BP
