...The BP oil spill and its impact will be felt in the Gulf of Mexico region for years, if not decades. In the months after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana in April 2010, it's estimated that almost five million barrels of oil gushed from the seabed and into the Gulf, making it the worst oil spill in history. Now that the flow of oil has stopped, the scope of the catastrophe is coming into focus, and attention is turning to how things will play out in the court system. This article looks at some of the legal issues raised by the BP oil spill, including legal options for businesses and individuals looking to get back on their financial feet after the oil spill. (For in-depth information on filing a claim with BP's $20 billion compensation fund, see Nolo's article BP Oil Spill: Filing a Claim With BP's Compensation Fund.) The BP Oil Spill: Types of Lawsuits The BP oil spill has already prompted the filing of thousands of lawsuits. Businesses and workers have seen their livelihoods suffer or even disappear in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Families and individuals in the Gulf region worry about the health hazards posed by the chemicals used to disperse and clean up the oil. And, with its dubious distinction as the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, the BP oil spill has inflicted immeasurable devastation on the Gulf's coastline, wetlands, wildlife, and ecosystems. Here's a look at the different kinds of lawsuits...
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...As oil continues to rise to the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, BP’s public reputation continues to fall. Its name is becoming synonymous with this environmental disaster much in the way that Exxon’s name was tainted in the wake of the Valdez tanker catastrophe in 1989. This is especially ironic given the recent effort that BP has made to brand itself as a “green” company that balances oil and gas exploration with the development of alternative energy technology. I believe that the problem BP is facing in the aftermath of this disaster is a result of a lack of strong ethical guidance. Instead of doing the right thing, it appears that BP’s management has resorted to arguing the issue of liability in the court of public opinion. BP’s C.E.O., Tony Hayward, has recently said, “This was not our accident.” He has pointed to Transocean, the rig owner, and Halliburton, the company that constructed the concrete encasement that sealed the well, as the true culprits. While company lawyers would be negligent if they failed to advise BP to avoid accepting legal responsibility for the disaster, this does not mean that BP should publicly blame others. It appears that the company’s public relations and legal positions have become entangled with BP resorting to finger pointing as its chief strategy. Such actions should be reserved for the courtroom, not the media. People are expecting BP to express sorrow and regret for the disaster, not cast blame and divert attention from its own actions...
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...largest oil and gas company which has its headquarter in London, England. The initial name of BP is the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909; in 1954 it changed to its present name British Petroleum. It is combined and reconstructed by the former British Petroleum, Amoco and ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company). BP’s business has spread to many fields including oil and natural gas, alternative fuels, the production of petroleum based product, aviation fuels and its business about the solar electric power generation is also growing very fast. Since 1981, BP has set up 12 branch companies successively in many fields such as mineral, food, ship, international finance, international detergent with its business spread to more than a hundred countries all over the world. BP has nearly 110,000 employees work all over the world. In 2003, BP is ranked on the FORTUNE as the first five global top 500 companies. Deepwater horizon oil spill and deepwater horizon explosion On 20th April, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico suffered a lot from a great catastrophe of oil spill. The drilling platform of the British Petroleum Corporation exploded in the deepwater horizon in the Gulf of Mexico which led to 11 workers death and very severe environment pollution. This event is regarded as the most severe oil spill incident in the history of America.。 Many people are curious about this catastrophe and people did not know what cause it and what actions would BP take. According to the inspection report BP made on...
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...largest oil and gas company which has its headquarter in London, England. The initial name of BP is the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909; in 1954 it changed to its present name British Petroleum. It is combined and reconstructed by the former British Petroleum, Amoco and ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company). BP’s business has spread to many fields including oil and natural gas, alternative fuels, the production of petroleum based product, aviation fuels and its business about the solar electric power generation is also growing very fast. Since 1981, BP has set up 12 branch companies successively in many fields such as mineral, food, ship, international finance, international detergent with its business spread to more than a hundred countries all over the world. BP has nearly 110,000 employees work all over the world. In 2003, BP is ranked on the FORTUNE as the first five global top 500 companies. Deepwater horizon oil spill and deepwater horizon explosion On 20th April, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico suffered a lot from a great catastrophe of oil spill. The drilling platform of the British Petroleum Corporation exploded in the deepwater horizon in the Gulf of Mexico which led to 11 workers death and very severe environment pollution. This event is regarded as the most severe oil spill incident in the history of America.。 Many people are curious about this catastrophe and people did not know what cause it and what actions would BP take. According to the inspection report BP made on...
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...largest oil and gas company which has its headquarter in London, England. The initial name of BP is the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909; in 1954 it changed to its present name British Petroleum. It is combined and reconstructed by the former British Petroleum, Amoco and ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company). BP’s business has spread to many fields including oil and natural gas, alternative fuels, the production of petroleum based product, aviation fuels and its business about the solar electric power generation is also growing very fast. Since 1981, BP has set up 12 branch companies successively in many fields such as mineral, food, ship, international finance, international detergent with its business spread to more than a hundred countries all over the world. BP has nearly 110,000 employees work all over the world. In 2003, BP is ranked on the FORTUNE as the first five global top 500 companies. Deepwater horizon oil spill and deepwater horizon explosion On 20th April, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico suffered a lot from a great catastrophe of oil spill. The drilling platform of the British Petroleum Corporation exploded in the deepwater horizon in the Gulf of Mexico which led to 11 workers death and very severe environment pollution. This event is regarded as the most severe oil spill incident in the history of America.。 Many people are curious about this catastrophe and people did not know what cause it and what actions would BP take. According to the inspection report BP made on...
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...1. Introduction This report will identify a crisis facing BP company, the Gulf of Mexico spill, and investigate how the organization response to the society. In this report, it will use Legitimacy theory to explain BP’s response to this event. Legitimacy theory can be treated as a explanation for voluntary corporate disclosures in annual report. As (Dowling&Pfeffer, 1975) says a corporation must act in congruence with norms and society value. First of all, Legitimacy theory is based on the concept of substantive rationality and replies upon the notion of a social contract. This theory asserts that organizations seek to ensure that they operate within the bounds and norms of their respective societies (Ramon Mullerat, 2010) .It aims to conform to norms and value of society. As a company, it always use annual report to legitimize the ongoing operation, however, in common situations, it often discloses good news, but its actual behaviors decline which is called legitimacy gap. 2. The case 2.1 Context In April 20, 2010, a semi-submersible drilling platform belongs to BP occurred explosion in American Mexico gulf. It caused 11people die and 17 people injured after 36 hours (CBC News, 2010). BP Company announced that it wills to response for this event. The Gulf of Mexico spill has become the worst environmental crisis in America. Except the direct cost, it will also attack people’s life, such as air and water safe. At the same time, it is a huge disaster for seaside...
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...Anglo-Persian Oil Company which is now known as British Petroleum (BP) was founded in 1909 and is one of the world’s leading international gas and oil companies. The multinational British company’s headquarters is located in London, United Kingdom and is one of the five largest oil companies in the world. The pioneer of the Middle Eastern oil industry, BP discovered oil in Iran before World War I and eventually became involved in all aspects of the oil industry, from exploration to marketing. Offering an array of services that expand from providing fuel for transportation to providing energy for heat and light, BP has become one of the leaders in energy sourcing across the globe. (Company History Index, n.d.) BP is also known for petrochemical products for everyday items and retail services. BP is one of the leaders of the energy industry. The company has high standards and uses the most modern technology in order to deliver long-term value and to meet energy needs. As a global company all activities and interest are held or operated through subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures which are governed by the laws of many jurisdictions. Around the world there are 16,400 BP service stations. (Company History Index, n.d.) Specify the nature, structure and type of products or services of Apple, and Identify two (2) key factors in the organization’s external environment that can affect its success. Provide explanation to support the rationale. British Petroleum (BP) is one of...
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...Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill On April 20, 2010, an event occurred in the Gulf of Mexico that changed the life of many of the citizens living near and around the area. The event would be known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which was triggered by an explosion on a Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulting “in the deaths of 11 workers and injuries to another 17 workers” (NIOSH, 2011). Millions of barrels of oil were believed to have leaked into the Gulf, damaging resources, causing health issues, and injuring wildlife. The primary law, in the U.S., for companies conducting deepwater drilling is outlined in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). The OPA “establishes a framework that addresses the liability of responsible parties in connection with the discharge of oil into the navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shorelines, or the exclusive economic zone” (Nichols, 2010). The OPA limits certain liabilities of the responsible party when an incident occurs in the previous mentioned areas. The OPA is limited based on the type of vessel or facility involved in the incident and the quantity of oil displaced by a discharge. Part of the OPA includes the claims for certain damages and removal costs. Claims for an incident must be presented directly to the responsible party, where the responsible party must pay appropriate claim within 90 days. If the responsible party fails to pay the claim during this timeframe, then the claimant can submit a claim...
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...international environment: The case of 2010 Gulf of Mexico Exploring Justice, Fairness and Organizational sustainability in the international environment: The case of 2010 Gulf of Mexico Abstract This study leverages insights from the literature of organizational sustainability, stakeholder theory as well as the notion of organizational justice and fairness to help answer the question as to how companies should morally prioritize corporate social responsibility, corporate accountability and stakeholder claims. In this paper, I also utilized the concept of corporate social responsibility as well as the triple bottom line in order to form my own model of sustainability. This model is used to analyze the case of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spills which was claimed as the responsibility of British Petroleum. I also addressed the strong relationship between organizational justice and organization sustainability with the conclusion that by enhancing organizational justice and fairness, organizations will be able to obtain its sustainable development in the long terms. Moreover, it is important to note that this article mostly focus on the sustainability regarding to three dimensions of economic, environmental and social, analyzing the real-world problems in order to emphasize the importance of philosophical roots of sustainability. Perhaps the result came out from this study will be seen as a thought-provoking theoretical and empirical grounds for international business practice...
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...BP Leadership Group Four MGMT 620 – High Performance Leadership 2/5/2012 Chadron State College Abstract The purpose of this analysis is to focus on British Petroleum (BP) leadership as it relates to the 2010 Gulf oil spill and cleanup. One would think that a large corporation like BP would be penalized greatly from an oil spill of the magnitude. Once the announcement was made of the spill, BP leadership was quick to shirk responsibility and circumvent its safety policies and practices which led to one of the greatest man-made ecological disasters the world has ever known. Prior to the spill, the leadership values and culture at BP are obvious. Their focus was on reducing costs and meeting tight time-lines at the expense of safety. The former BP CEO resigned voluntarily. What leadership values or traits changed as a result of the disaster at BP? Did the new CEO set forth a path of leadership change or rather simply pacify the media? The Gulf oil spill forced a rapid increase in fuel prices in the country. In one quarter during 2010, BP earned enough profit to cover the expenses associated with the spill, including the associated litigation. One astonishing fact is that, upon exiting, the (supposedly) punished CEO was given a settlement of over 100 million dollars from BP. What leadership changes have occurred as a result of this tragedy? Not much, why? Limited financial consequences for BP have brought about very little change in leadership...
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...The Socially Responsible Oil Company: An Examination of Corporate Ethics by Peter Fischer A Paper Submitted in Fulfillment of the USD School of Law Writing Requirement Energy Law Professor Burleson Spring, 2009 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Background 3 The Need for CSR at Home and Abroad 7 Case Study Analyses: Four Critical Events in the Oil Industry and their Effect on CSR Case Study #1: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 9 Case Study #2: Occidental and the Piper Alpha Disaster 12 Case Study #3: A Two-Part Analysis of Shell in the Mid-1990s a) Shell’s Human Rights Violations in Nigeria 16 b) Shell’s Response—Outsource CSR 21 Case Study #4: BP’s Major Advances in CSR 24 Ethics and the Problem of the Public Relations Quick Fix 27 Analyzing the Current Corporate Culture: Failure to Meet the Triple Bottom Line 32 Conclusion 38 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...…………41 Introduction Over the past twenty years an irrefutable shift in the oil industry has occurred—the shift to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).[1] The purpose of this paper is to analyze the motivation behind this shift and determine if these CSR practices are genuine. In other words, does the adoption of CSR denote a tangible change in the way oil companies operate, or is it merely an elaborate public relations exercise? To answer...
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...based on the moral intention of the action rather than its moral consequence. Kant’s theory is based on, having respect for others, being fair, and idealistic (universal principles). The fact that BP knew about the potential harm that might affect the population and yet didn’t do anything about it shows an unfair and disrespectful behavior toward the local population. According to Kant, BP should have fixed the problem that it was aware of before continuing on with the project, even if this would not make the company profitable. Therefore, it’s an unethical decision for BP to avoid responsibility because it has a “duty” to fix the problem. Mill’s Utilitarianism theory states that a behavior is considered ethical and moral as long as it is the best chosen alternative that’s likely to produce maximum happiness for the greatest number of people even if a single person has to sacrifice. BP probably used this approach when it did the cost-benefit analysis and came up with the decision that it would be more profitable if they take the risk of the problem occurring and deal with the results after rather than spend money fixing the problem. However, this approach suggests that it’s an unethical decision because the oil spill caused more harm than good for the stakeholders such as the shareholders, local population, tourism, and the wildlife throughout the gulf. Aristotle’s Virtue ethics states that people should look into their communities to see how they should react. People develop...
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...| 1. Based on the history of the company, why did BP get involved in so much questionable conduct? BP's history extends back to 1901 when William D'Arcy's Anglo-Persian Oil Company first drilled for oil in Persia and after seven years of drilling and darcy's nearly spent his net worth finally oil spewed out and became rich. Unfortunately later at 1914 BP was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the very low demand of oil in global market. Accordingly ,BP's Board strategy focused for decades on selling and making profits by expanding and increasing their market shares and they have neglected BP responsibilities with respect to human and environmental resources in their Mission statements and Corporate goals . Below is part of their new mission statement and underlined parts emphasize how BP have changed their way of thinking and realized how social responsibility and environment are important to their business especially after several disasters that occurred to them last decade. Mission statement: "BP wants to be recognized as a great company – competitively successful and a force for progress. We have a fundamental belief that we can make a difference in the world. We help the world meet its growing need for heat, light and mobility. We strive to do that by producing energy that is affordable, secure and doesn’t damage the environment. BP is progressive, responsible, innovative and performance driven." "Progressive - We believe in the principle...
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...2010, the United States faced not only on of its largest environmental disasters but the biggest offshore oil spill in its history. Off the Gulf of Mexico a large oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, operated by British Petroleum, exploded killing 11 employees and leaking an estimated 4.9 million gallon of crude oil into the ocean. Furthermore, the explosion caused a subsequent fire resulting in the ultimate sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. Although this disaster was accidental there were many warning signs that BP neglected which could have prevented it. To begin with, the construction of the underwater drilling pipelines were shoddy and a vital valve was installed backwards. Consequently the pipelines became brittle, full of cracks, and flooded. In addition, equipment readings, internal documents from BP engineers, and other red flags warned that the rig wasn’t operating correctly and that there was potential for a dangerous explosion. However, all these signs were ignored and not addressed as threats by managers. In an effort to avoid incurring costs and to maximize profit, BP cut corners and underestimated the importance of safety. After initial investigations it became clear that BP not only missed significant signs but staff did not have proper training, maintenance of the rig was inferior, and overall BP lacked formalized emergency responses and a safety culture. As a result BP has undergone strict investigations by the U.S Justice Department and a variety of environmental organizations...
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...Bp also known as British Petroleum “is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.” This establishment has over 80 operations under its umbrella ranging from the United States to Australia. Oil companies such as BP constantly try to find the next best way to dig and find oil underneath the surface of the earth. Not only do they have well educated persons there to help measure, dig, etc., but they also have a great number of technological resources. The resources that are used include: 3D film that Geologists look at in a room called the HIVE (highly immersive visual environment). In this room, all persons that deal with finding oil come together and view this film to help determine where to drill and how successful they will be in doing so (BP). Finding oil is a science, there isn’t much guessing done without tools and maps to find it. Before there were a host of technology-based programs, oil companies had to search for oil by finding natural oil bubbles that came to surface in what is called a seapage (BP). Even then, there were no true promises that if the drilling began that they would strike gold, they just hoped that there was something deep beyond the earth’s surface. According to BP, “drilling is the only sure way to find out whether there is oil or gas down there”. There are also precautions that are...
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