The Week: Most Recent Energy Issues:The BP Oil Spill

The first BP oil spill arrest: An instant guide

The Week — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:04:00 -0400

Almost exactly two years after BP's Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig exploded, killing 11 people and eventually sending more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the Justice Department made its first arrest relating to the disaster on Tuesday. Federal investigators charged former BP engineer Kurt Mix, 50, with two criminal counts of obstructing justice for deleting hundreds of potentially damning text messages. What's the story with this curiously belated arrest? Here, a concise guide:

How was Mix involved in the disaster?
Until he resigned last June, Mix was a drilling...

Has Big Oil learned its lesson from the Gulf spill?

The Week — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:18:00 -0400

It's less than a year since the April 20, 2010 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, but BP is reportedly already trying to start drilling there again. The oil giant, one of the leading producers in the Gulf before the accident, is said to be talking with U.S. regulators about resuming work as early as July — a report that energy secretary Ken Salazar has denied. It also emerged over the weekend that Transocean, the operators of the Deepwater Horizon rig, awarded its executives $2.8 million in bonuses for overseeing "the best year for safety...

Is BP guilty of manslaughter?

The Week — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:38:00 -0400

Almost a year after an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, federal prosecutors are considering legal charges. Eleven workers were killed when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20 last year, and the Justice Department is now reportedly examining whether negligence makes BP managers guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Is this just scapegoating?

If they were negligent, prosecute them: How do you divvy up blame for an accident, asks Stephen Reader at Death and Taxes. Well, it's quite easy when "government regulations are ignored...

Did the BP spill kill the Gulf sea floor?

The Week — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 08:00:00 -0400

One of the great mysteries of the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — "What happened to all the oil?" — is one step closer to being solved: At least some of it, perhaps a lot, sank to the ocean floor, according to University of Georgia researchers. Ominously, the two-inch-thick layers of oily sediment found in seafloor samples are resting over a layer of dead shrimp and small deep-dwelling creatures, raising the question: Did the BP spill kill the sea floor? (Watch an ABC report about the discovered oil)

How big is the oil blanket?
University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha...

Is BP shirking responsibility for the Gulf spill?

The Week — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:55:00 -0400

BP has released its findings on what went wrong leading up to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last spring, and the company doesn't seem ready to accept much of the blame. Of the eight major causes BP identifies, says the Guardian's Damian Carrington, it takes responsibility for 1.5, blames well-cementing contractor Halliburton for one, and faults rig operator Transocean with 4.5. As the majority partner in Deepwater Horizon drilling project, is BP wrong to try and spread the guilt?

Man up, BP: It's "infuriating" to see BP so shamelessly "point blame at other companies and people,"...

Oil-eating microbes: Fact or fiction?

The Week — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:41:00 -0400

An Aug. 24 study in the journal Science had great news for Gulf Coast residents: A newly discovered, voracious microbe is rapidly eating the oil spilled in the BP gusher. The specially adapted oil-eating bacteria are so effective, said lead researcher Terry Hazan of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, that they have apparently devoured an entire 22-mile-long underwater plume. Skeptics noted that Hazan's research was funded by BP. Does that discredit the good tidings?

Don't trust the sunny news: The BP funding sure makes this look like "fuzzy science," says Alex Moore in Death + Taxes. But...

BP spill: The worst is yet to come

The Week — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:13:00 -0400

BP's "reckless quest" to drill deeper and cheaper than any other oil company has endangered not only the Gulf of Mexico, says Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, Julia Whitty, "but the largest, richest, most pristine, most biologically important, and last completely unprotected ecosystem left on Earth: the deep ocean." Marine life has been forever altered by the incalculable amounts of oil and other deadly chemicals currently saturating the water. "Never before in human history has the vast food web of the ocean—rooted in the dark, and flowering at the surface—come under so many...

BP's chemical 'carpet-bombing' of the Gulf: How much damage?

The Week — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:45:00 -0400

As BP nears what everyone hopes are is the final phase of permanently sealing its blown-out Macondo well, the U.S. government now estimates that 4.9 million barrels, or 206 million gallons, of crude has flowed into the Gulf since April 20 — making this the largest accidental oil spill ever, anywhere. But as efforts shift to the cleanup, another big question looms: How much toxic dispersant did BP dump into the ocean and how much damage will it do to the environment? (Watch a CNN report about the chemical spillage)

Don't we know how much dispersant BP used?
BP says it used a total of...

Should gas stations ditch the BP name?

The Week — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:59:00 -0400

Owners of BP stations across the country want to drop the name, "BP," after sales reportedly collapsed by up to 40 percent in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill. BP has offered to help struggling stations by handing out cash, cutting credit card fees, and boosting nationwide advertising, but it's expected that that a majority of owners will insist on a rebranding at their annual October pow-wow with the oil-giant's execs — likely pushing for a return to the "Amoco" brand that the company absorbed in 1998. Is ditching the BP name a crucial business move?

BP owes its retailers a rebranding...

An insider's view of the oil spill

The Week — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:00:00 -0400

I’M NOT WRITING to offer an apologia, but I have to say, life in the oil field was wonderful. How much of that wonder was due to my youth—as well as the specific joy of youthfulness in the 1980s—and how much of the wonder was due to the nature of the work—the joy of the hunt—I cannot be sure. I think it must have been mostly the joy of the hunt, for there were old guys (there were almost never any women) who pursued the oil and gas with just as much fervor as the younger geologists.

We never called it crude, or black gold, or Texas tea. There were no clever nicknames...

Where's the oil?

The Week — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:45:00 -0400

While BP has at least temporarily plugged its broken deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 200 million gallons of oil are estimated to have spilled since April. But, 100 days into the environmental disaster, clean up crews are reportedly having difficulty finding that escaped crude: (Watch an ABC report about the disappearing oil)

What's the evidence for "missing" oil?
Various anecdotal reports. For instance, three weeks ago skimming crews cleaned up 25,000 barrels of oily water. But two weeks later — after BP installed the temporary cap — they could only find 200 barrels...

BP's Tony Hayward and 6 other disgraced CEOs who cashed out

The Week — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:00:00 -0400

Tony Hayward has finally paid the price for his widely criticized performance as the public face of BP during the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. He will step down from his position as chief executive of the company in October, handing over responsibility to American colleague Bob Dudley. Most Americans will be pleased to see the unpopular Hayward go, but may not be quite so happy about his severance package — a deal that could land him a pension worth an estimated $17 million, plus stock options. But Hayward isn't the only disgraced executive to receive such generous parting gifts. Here's a...

Was Tony Hayward 'demonized'?

The Week — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:35:00 -0400

It's official: BP CEO Tony Hayward will step down in October to make way for his American successor, BP exec Bob Dudley. When Hayward announced his departure, he took a shot at the U.S. media, saying he had been "demonized and vilified" as the "public face" of the massive Gulf oil spill: "Sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus." White House press secretary Robert Gibbs shot back that nobody's "feeling overly sorry" for the gaffe-prone CEO. Should we be? (Watch a Fox report about Hayward's demotion)

Hayward earned this "tidal wave of hostility": When Hayward took the reins of...

BP's scientist-'buying' plot

The Week — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:15:00 -0400

As BP gets closer to the cleanup stage of its massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it has been hiring marine scientists at public universities all along the Gulf — essentially buying their silence as well as their services, the Mobile, Ala., Press-Register reports. What does BP want with scientists, and who doesn't it want them talking to? (Watch Rachel Maddow compare BP to "The Sopranos.") Here's a concise look at BP's scientist shopping spree:

What does BP want with outside scientists?
To help it fight Gulf spill–related lawsuits, especially an expected federal Natural Resources...

Will dumping Tony Hayward help BP?

The Week — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:15:00 -0400

BP is widely expected to announce beleaguered CEO Tony Hayward's departure today or tomorrow, possibly replacing him with Robert Dudley, the American who replaced Hayward as the BP official in charge of the blown-out Gulf oil well. Whoever takes over from Hayward inherits a company with potentially enormous liabilities from the Gulf disaster, a depressed stock price, and persistent takeover rumors. How much would replacing the CEO help BP? (Watch an AP report about Hayward's possible exit)

Going American can't hurt: Picking its first non-Briton as CEO will "underscore how vital the United States...

BP spill: 5 apocalyptic scenarios

The Week — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:55:00 -0400

A brewing tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico is tempering optimism that the BP oil spill will be permanently plugged anytime soon. But that's just par for the course, says Joel Achenbach in The Washington Post. "An enduring feature of the Gulf oil spill is that, even when you think you've heard the worst-case scenario, there's always another that's even more dire" — and, from the serious to the slightly unhinged, the scenarios that doomsday-minded commentators have suggested are dire indeed. Here are five "predictions of Armageddon" that, if fulfillied, would make the already awful consequences...