| On April 20, 2010, an explosion took place in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil platform belonging to BP Deepwater Horizon, eleven workers went missing and the spilling of oil into the waters of Atlantic Ocean started as a result of the explosion. In the beginning of May, Hayward stated that the company has taken up all the work, related to the destruction of the oil spill. By various methods BP has tried to lower the consequences of ecological catastrophe and the oil spill may be stopped by the beginning of June only but only after the prolonged efforts of BP. A special protective cupola was placed at the spot of oil spill, which would collect oil into a specially equipped tanker. By this time, the cost of the entire operation touched 1.4 billion dollars; the shares of BP at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) sharply fell and touched their lowest mark for the last 13 years.
Hayward was criticized for his actions and careless comments in the press during operations to fight the consequences of the catastrophe in Gulf of Mexico. On July 18, 2010, Bob Dudley, member of the BP Board of Directors, replaced Hayward in heading the operations. According to media reports, Bob Dudley, in near future, could replace Hayward as the Chief Executive of BP. On July 27, 2010 BP declared that Hayward would resign on October 1, 2010 and Bob Dudley would take charge as CEO.
BP is a British Oil and Gas Company, the second-largest public trading Oil and Gas Company in the world. As of 2009, the company occupied 4th place in the Fortune Global 500. The Company’s Headquarters is located in London.
Before May 2001, the Company was called British Petroleum.
Owners abd management:
Almost 100% of company shares are (according to information as of May, 2010) public floated.
Chairman of the Board of Directors is Carl-Henric Svanberg. CEO of the company is Tony Hayward (it is expected that Tony Hayward will resign from the post on October 11, 2010).
The former CEO of the company - Lord John Browne resigned from the post owing to a homosexual scandal in the beginning of May, 2007.
Activities:
The company carries out the production of oil and gas in many parts of the world, both on land as well as on the shelf. As of 2009, the proven reserves of BP constituted 1.4 billion tons of liquid hydrocarbons and 1.26 trillion cu.m of natural gas.
BP owns large oil refining and petrochemical facilities, networks of gas stations and produces oil under the grade “Castrol”. The company also has some stakes in 10 gas pipelines and five re-gasification terminals in the North Sea. Also, the company owns a 47% share in the gas pipeline in Alaska and also several filling terminals for condensed natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico.
Subdivision BPSolar is the world leader in the manufacture and installation of photo-electric elements.
BP - one of the main players of hydrogen power engineering. The company constructs hydrogen filling stations and supplies hydrogen to them. The company participates in various hydrogen demonstration projects worldwide.
Performance indicators:
Production in 2009 constituted 126.8 million tons of liquefied hydrocarbons. Revenue of the company for 2009 stood at $239.3 billion and a net profit of $16.58 billion
Incidents:
In the 2000s, BP had large anthropogenic catastrophes, leading to serious loss of human life, causing serious ecological damage and also brought significant economic losses to the company.
Explosion in the oil refinery in Texas:
On March 23, 2005, the explosion, which turned into a fire, took place at BP enterprise, located in the city of Texas (State of Texas). As a result of the accident, 15 people died and 170 more were injured. The company declared a payment of more than $700 million to victims and the families of victims who lost their lives due to the accident.
Hurricane “Dennis” occurred in July, 2005 causing serious damage to the BP operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The natural disaster caused serious damage to the oil platform Thunder Horse, one of the largest in the world, built by BP in conjunction with ExxonMobil. As a result of the impact of the hurricane, the platform tilted by 30° and the expenditure spent on restoration amounted to approximately $100 million.
The explosion of the oil platform Deepwater Horizon:
An explosion took place on April 20, 2010 on the semi-submersible oil rig Deepwater Horizon, which was taken on lease by BP from Transocean operating in the central portion in the Gulf of Mexico, South of Louisiana (USA). In the ensuing fire, which could not be stopped, 11 people were killed and 17 injured and the platform sank on April 22. The free oil spill from the well on which the platform worked before the disaster led to a major ecological catastrophe: a leak of 1000 tons of oil per day was registered from the well, which is located at a depth of about 1.5 km under the water. The oil spill covers an area of up to 1000 km˛, which led to serious pollution along the coast of Louisiana and other U.S. states. Some experts estimate the damage is up to $37 billion.
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Yesterday was the two-month "anniversary" of the BP oil platform explosion which has turned into the ongoing oil contamination catastrophe for The Gulf of Mexico. BP's initial reaction days after the explosion was to cover the facts - their official statement said that they had the situation "under control" and that "despite the explosion, very little oil had leaked". The saddest part is that despite all the efforts and promises from British Petroleum, two months later they still did not seal the leak and did not cleanup the spilled oil that is so massive that it's visible even from space as a huge spot on our planet. The oil from the well continues to leak into the gulf at the rate of 12,000-19,000 barrels a day (about 400,000 to 600,000 gallons a day). BP blamed their cleanup failures on the "rough seas and the tea-like consistency of the oil". The U.S. government promised to help BP combat the oil leak by "employing booms, skimmers, chemical dispersants and controlled burns".
