Confidential documents show BP Low-Balled Oil Spill Estimates

[kgrandia]

Confidential documents have been released showing that BP (NYSE:BP) estimated the spill in the Gulf of Mexico to be a lot larger than they publicly disclosed.

A government task force looking into the size of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico concludes that BP - the oil company responsible for handling the disaster - knowingly underestimated the volume of oil spilling into the Gulf.

More: http://www.energyboom.com/policy/govt-task-force-finds-bp-low-balled-oil-spill-estimates

[louis-t]

1. And Mark Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

And like Sanford, they think no one will find them out.

[kgrandia]

2. go figure

In this day and age and with so many people focused on them, I don't know how they thought they would get away with it.

[Nihil]

3. Hindsight helps us here.

> I don't know how they thought they would get away with it.

The PR department was given a range from low to high so decided to run
with the low figure. By the time that the true extent of the problem
had become clear (i.e., that it wasn't going to be a quick fix by using
a sub to manually activate the BOP) instead of putting their hands up
and saying "We f*cked up the first estimate" they decided to stonewall
at the original (blatantly incorrect) figure in the hope that the equally
ridiculous overestimates (e.g., 100,000 bpd) would just fade away.

The first action was understandable and, as in most cases in the past,
would have worked fine if the BOP had closed so there was "just" a slick
from the explosion & sinking. Although the precedents were on their side,
the facts of this case were not and so all the world now knows that BP's
PR team gambled & lost.

:shrug:

It's the same mentality that claims that every civilian killed by a Predator
is an "AlQaeda #2", every domestic terrorist is a "lone wolf" and every
financial disaster is the fault of the public rather than the casino.

(It's also the same mentality that causes every lawsuit in the USA to claim
for stupid amounts of damages: the "it has worked in the past so let's try
it again this time" approach.)