...Horizon oil spill or the BP oil spill was a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that took place in the Macondo Prospect. Macondo Prospect was a BP operated project, and one of the oil spill disasters that has been considered to be one of the most destructive accidents on marine environment. In fact, it has been considered the most expensive and life threatening accident in the petroleum industry. The disaster was an explosion in a deep-sea oil drilling facility owned by BP Company, in which the resultant explosion caused the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oilrig, killing 11 people in the incident. The disaster let free a gush of oil from under the seabed, flowing for an estimated three months. The result of the BP oil disaster was indeed catastrophic not just too marine life, but also to all other sectors of the economy that depended either directly or indirectly on marine environment (Alexander, 2010). In what remained to be a disaster, the wellhead had continued to gush oil for up to 87 days before a team finally succeeded in July 2010. By this time, it was estimated that the oil spill had discharged approximately 4.9 million barrels, a quantity estimated to be 780,000 cubic meters. By this time, marine life had been put in jeopardy while a lot others had died, or been seriously affected. Apart from marine and wildlife habitats, the oil spill had caused significant damages to the fishing and tourism industry of Gulf States. There were also instances of human health problems...
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...the Gulf? Word count: 2589 Student number: 4827317 In the mid-eighteenth century, the emergence of absolute monarchies in the Gulf States takes root from their traditional royal families that were arbitrarily picked by British imperial interest – Saudi Arabia (the Al Saud family), Oman (the Al Said family), Kuwait (the Al Sabah family), Bahrain (the Al Khalifa family), Qatar (the Al Thani family), and UAE (a federation of seven sheikdoms). After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the traditional royal families in the Gulf States fell under British control, which sought to secure the route to India and pledged to protect the Gulf region from external aggression in return. Moreover, Britain’s imperial policy empowered the royal families’ authorities and gave them a recognized ruling identity. The arrival of Western oil companies, seeking concessions in the 1930s, further consolidated the authority of the ruling families (Cleveland and Bunton, 2009). This essay will focus on the impacts of oil-abundance on the Gulf states, which more precisely explain the resilience of incumbent regimes. The concept of ‘rentier state’ accounts for the continued survival of absolute monarchies such that democracy is forgone in favour of an authoritarian regime. The main argument of this essay is, however, that a combination of rentierism; and traditional Islamic culture, which are further reinforced by rentierism, elucidate the survival of absolute monarchies in the Gulf in a...
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...April 20th, 2010 marks the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The catastrophic event, commonly referred to as the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill or Deepwater Horizon oil spill, took place in the Gulf of Mexico and started due to “well integrity failure” on BP’s Deepwater Horizon oilrig. A “blowout preventer,” the device that seals the well in situations such as this, failed to engage. The failure led to hydrocarbons uncontrollably shooting up the well, triggering a chain of explosions. These explosions not only killed 11 BP personnel, but also unleashed over four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico (Bryant 2011). The leak took three months to stop, despite a variety of attempts, before BP finally capped it off on July 15th, 2010 (Adams and Gabbert 2010). In response to the crisis BP launched a website to present itself and its responses in a positive manner. BP’s “Gulf of Mexico Restoration” website uses these three strategies to try to repair its reputation: BP uses vibrant images of beaches and aquatic habitats to visually demonstrate its progress toward restoring the environment affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident; chronicles its accomplishments of restoring the Gulf of Mexico using sizeable headliners and captions, and provides a timeline of expenditures to display its financial commitment to revamping the damaged region. BP uses stunning pictures of restored beaches and enhanced aquatic habitats to express its commitment...
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...The Unsafe Culture of BP The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The British Petroleum Company (BP) gulf spill started in April of 2010, and was first contained in July of 2010; it took the company 2 months to actually start the process of containing the spill. The Associated Press and The New York Times, reported that a total of 94 to 184 million gallons of oil were unleashed on the shores off the Gulf. This disaster has caused controversial topics to arise as to what the BP company is doing in preventing these disasters or if they are even taking any precaution to that notion. Critics say that BP has had a very bad track record when it comes to safety. It is a risky company that has grown too fast. They have had accidents like the one of BP’s most troubled refineries, which lies, in the State of Texas, which also had its fair share of explosions. BP now faces the largest liabilities in corporate history. All of what BP seems to be doing is shutting their workers mouths with money they cannot refuse but money that has no affect on the company’s profits. BP must change their culture of deadly accidents, disastrous oil spills, and countless safety violations. The Texas BP refinery had an “accident” in 2005 where 15 people died in an explosion and fire, 170 others where injured. Afterwards there were charges that BP management valued profits more than safety. BP acquired the 12,000-acre refinery in 1999 as part of...
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...The main purpose of this article is to show that Anadarko Petroleum, the part-owner of the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, has agreed to pay BP Four Billion Dollars in order to mend all claims from last year’s oil spill. This means that Anadarko is dropping its allegations of gross negligence against BP and giving up twenty five percent interest in the sit (Stothard 2011). The article also shows a few other companies tha tare settling disputes over the oil spill that occurred last April, but its main focus is on the dealings with BP. The most important information in this article is that this is dealing with the lawsuits pertaining to the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. All of the leaseholders have settled their shared disputes. BP has set up a twenty billion dollar trust account, which will be used to pay off companies that claim the oil spill has affected their natural resources and business, as well as government claims. So far, BP has paid out seven billion dollars to legitimate claims and Gulf Coast communities. The main conclusion that the author uses is the fact that BP is showing positive progress at the spill site. He uses quotes form workers to support his information. The main quote that tied everything together, “This settlement represents a positive resolution of a significant uncertainty and it resolves the issues among all the leaseholder of the Macondo Well,” said by Bob Dudley, BP Chief executive (Stothard 2011). So in other words, leaseholders are getting...
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...Debate centering on whether the shark species is imperiled or not, has effects on allocation of funds meant for conservancy efforts. However, the agreement from both sides is on sharks importance and their sustainability as crucial. This expose elucidate positions informing both sides. Further, the expose will identify the most strongly supported side and identify probable lobbies that support either side. Baum and Myers used data on the number of catches to compare the amount of shark species captured in the 1950s and 1990s in addressing their decline in the Gulf of Mexico. They noted that, catches on the Whitetip shark, the most prevalent of the sharks in the 1950s, declined by 99%. Additionally, catches of the Silky and Dusty shark declined by 91% and 79% respectively (142). Thus, this decline historically reflects on the level of humanity’s exploitation, for instance, the disappearance of the Whitetip in the Gulf of Mexico. Effectively, the near disappearance of the species underlines an ecological shift on the pelagic baseline. In another study in the Northwest Atlantic, Baum et al. concluded that there was a 50% decline of all the recorded but one species of shark. This study focused a short period of 15 years between 1986 and 2000 (391). Effectively, the findings emphasized consideration of sharks as endangered species requiring conservatory efforts like any other protected marine predators. Importantly, the decline in the numbers of sharks in the Northwest Atlantic...
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...DEFINITION OF CRISIS The term crisis evokes a sense of threat, urgency, and destruction. Crisis suggests an unusual of overwhelmingly negative significance that carries a high level of risk, harm and opportunity for further loss. For organizations, crisis often conveys a fundamental threat to system stability and threats to high priority goals including image, legitimacy and profitability. TYPES OF CRISES * Natural disasters Natural disasters are generally assumed to be beyond the control and responsibility of most organizations. It is including floods, earthquake, mud slides hurricanes and tornadoes. Example: The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. * Crises in public perception It ranges from news stories depicting the organization negatively to destructive rumors appearing in e-mail, on web sites or by word of mouth. These perceptions may concern the nature of a product, the conduct and credibility of the management and the financial status of the organization, or its conduct with regard to specific issues such as use of animals in testing, treatment of women employees or others. Example: McDonald’s Malaysia boycotting crisis. * Product or Services Crises Nowadays, product failures is a surprisingly a common crisis. There are a few crisis can be related to product and services crisis. * Product recalls Product recalls is either undertaken voluntarily or mandated by regulatory agencies or the courts. Example: Johnson & Johnson experienced two recalls...
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...The Vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is in the porpoise endemic to the northern parts of the Gulf of California. The Vaquita is currently the most endangered cetacean after the functional extinction of the Baiji (Lipotes vixilifer). As of May 2016, their population size is believed to be at 60 individuals and they are believed to go extinct within the next 5 years unless conservation efforts are taken. We will be looking at some of their primary threats, the ecological consequences of them going extinct, and what the current recovery efforts look like. When it comes to distribution the Vaquita is not only restricted to the northern area of the Gulf of California, it specifically lives in shallow, murky lagoons along shorelines. They dislike...
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...following. Political Context of Saudi Arabia in 1992/1993: Saudi Arabia is a nation of nearly 30 million people. It borders Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen in the south. At the time, the region experienced the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988 and shortly after moving into the Gulf War which lasted until 1992. During the Gulf War, Saudia Arabia was surrounded and projected by United States troops, which were prime targets for attacks by neighbouring Iraq. When the war ended in 1992, Saudi Arabia was in need of considerable infrastructure upgrades and repairs, hence the likely need for the Dhahran Roads project. In entering negotiations with Saudi Arabia, SADE must also account for the political unrest and strife in the post-war region. These risks, along with the possible threat of retaliation from political opponents, could have severed the project, posing serious risks to being unable to recoup upfront investments and yield positive cash flows in the following years. Loans: The fact that SADE required a loan was likely for the upfront costs of equipment in year one, which the 15 per cent advancement could not maintain. Although a very small amount...
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...Name Public Relations PR Response Analysis to BP Oil Spill Instructor May 1, 2015 PR Response Analysis to BP Oil Spill This is an analysis of BP’s PR responses to several public audiences and industries after the BP Oil Spill disaster that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. This disaster is also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The spill began on April 20th, 2010 on the BP-owned Transocean operated Macondo Prospect. The catastrophe stemmed from a gas release and ensuing explosion on the oil rig. According to BP’s website, “We acted to take responsibility for the clean-up, working under the direction of the federal government to respond swiftly to compensate people affected by the impact of the accident, to look after the health, safety and welfare of the large number of residents and people who helped respond to the spill, and to support the economic recovery of the Gulf Coast’s tourism and seafood industries impacted by the spill. We have conducted studies with federal and state natural resource trustees to identify and define the injury to natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico”. BP allowed their use of social media to expose their corporation’s lack of professionalism and customer service. By addressing important topics from this disaster through social media channels they compromised their integrity immediately. It also was perceived as hiding behind a forum that was less than ideal to use for this particular situation. Society and certain industries can instantly...
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...C.P. Snow's essay “Two Cultures” talks about the growing gulf between the scientific community and that of the humanities, or more specifically, the literary community. Being a scientist himself, who later turned writer, he had access to both “cultures” and was able to observe them. He postulates the existence of two “cultures” - based not just on the fields of practice the two, but observed differences in both behaviour and beliefs. He attributes it to “mutual incomprehension- sometimes (particularly among the young) hostility and dislike, but most of all lack of understanding” and to the super specialization within disciplines because of the education system to the point that the two have nothing in common any more. Does this so-called divide exist at all? We may examine history and notice that they go hand in hand, one can not exist without the other. The sciences are after all disciplines devoted to the pursuit of answers to philosophical questions, though these roots are often forgotten. By common misconception there is the clear dividing line between the two, and a definite hierarchy. Literature, and by extension, social science, is said to be inferior, subjective, faulty and devoid of fact, but many fail to think of the converse in relation with natural science. He describes this growing divide, the split onto “two cultures”. Scientists, he says, are a community, even in the anthropological sense – they have a set of beliefs, whether political, theological, economical and...
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...Deepwater Oil Spills Deepwater oil drilling has been an issue that continually bothers a great deal of people. Environmentalists are truly concerned with the effects that oil spills cause to the environment and species that live within the seas. There have been many spills throughout the years, but especially since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the Gulf Coast in 2010 that has gotten many concerned. Not only was the event in the news continually, but it was considered to be one of the worst environmental disasters in the United States history. Previously, the Exxon Valdez Oil spill was the worst catastrophic event regarding oil drilling, and I have paid much attention to that over the years, boycotting Exxon and recently learning that some of the original defendants in the lawsuit had died, waiting for a resolution of that incident over 20 years ago. The recent oil spill has been catastrophic, it killed eleven people due to the explosion, but the damage to many of the resident’s lives were unbelievable. In this paper, I will discuss the oil spills within the past few years, especially the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the environmental effects to the species of the sea, and the need for continual vigilance regarding this industry and whether or not it should even exist in this country. In 2011, there were four incidents of oil spills including off the coast of Brazil. In one incident, there was an oil leak, roughly 350 square miles, slowly making its way down the...
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...School : Bicol University Graduate School Course : Master in Entrepreneurship Name of Student : Aladin M. Armillo Subject : Organizational Development and Change Professor : Fr. Jovic Lobrigo Reflection Paper on Biodiversity The seminar on biodiversity was indeed refreshing and an eye opener to those silent and unaware of what is happening in our environment. It discussed what biodiversity is, why it is important, how to conserve and what people can do to maintain and ensure the constant provision of ecosystem services. The earth is facing a menace on ecological imbalance. Natural disasters occur more frequently. Global warming is indeed a global issue which government of different countries has an undergoing study to mitigate and control this world challenge and problem. Philippines is considered as one of the mega diverse country in the world. With more than 7,100 island, it has numerous living organisms, plants, and animals both land, salt and freshwater. The country is blessed with numbers of natural habitat, forests and mountains, islands and islets, coral reefs, coastal marines, lakes and other freshwater bodies. But Philippines of today can be considered as a biodiversity hotspot. National ecosystem is in the midst of destruction. Biodiversity conservation is a concern of every Filipino for many reasons. Almost all of the needs of mankind are derived from biological resources such as food, shelter, clothing, water, and even medicines. Discoveries of medicines...
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...1. For OPEC to act in accordance with this model, what fundamental change in OPEC would have to occur? What factors prevent it? First of all, all OPEC members must agree on the desired output level and price. The initiative for price and output decisions has to be turned to some assigned cartel authority and all members have to comply with this body. Therefore, the OPEC members can no longer make any independent price and output decisions on their own. An important attribute of this model is the absence of disputes among the cartel members on the basis of the optimal price and output for each member. However, several factors will prevent this form of cartel of taking place in the OPEC. First of all, each OPEC country maintains control over its own production and there are serious doubts that the OPEC members would want to assign the price and output decisions to some central authority. Secondly, even side payments to high-cost producers from low-cost producers to induce the former to reduce their production are impractical because they are so costly to negotiate and enforce. Finally, the OPEC nations have traditionally eschewed any production controls, viewing their production decisions as sovereign national matters. 2. Why is this form of cartel likely to be the most durable? This form of cartel maximizes the joint profits of its members and is completely insulated from internal cheating tendencies. Members may disagree as to the cartel's assignment of profit shares, but...
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...Payday in Persian Gulf “Our objectives are clear. Saddam Hussein's forces will leave Kuwait. The legitimate government of Kuwait will be restored to its rightful place and Kuwait once again will be free. Iraq will eventually comply with all relevant United Nations resolutions...” George H. W. Bush In order to analyze the Gulf Crisis between Iraq and Kuwait, the factors must first understand which contributed to the conflict. In 1980, Iraq carried out a major air and land attack on Iran. For eight years, the Iran-Iraq War grew more intense, until the U.S. “accidentally” downed an Iranian plane, killing 290 passengers. Some major factors with many others conduce to this war in time: territorial dispute, religious disputes between Islamic moderates and fundamentalists, and more importantly, a personality conflict between Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s president, and Ayatollah Khomein, the leader of Iran. During this war, the U.S. began to provide protection to Kuwaiti tankers, and hence, resulted in military conflicts with Iranian speedboats. Indirectly, the U.S. supported Iraq’s actions in this war. While the U.S. was busy protecting Kuwait, Kuwait supported Iraq financially by giving it more than $10 billion. At the close of the Iran-Iraq War in 1990, Iraq was eager to pay its international debt. But, how? Iraq’s chief export was petroleum. According to Iraq, Kuwait was providing a surplus of oil in the international community by exceeding it assigned OPEC quota. Furthermore...
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