BP fined for Gulf disaster

[there4eyeM]

from CNN-BP will plead guilty to manslaughter charges stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and agreed to pay $4.5 billion in government penalties, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday.

Gee, that could cost the company nearly a whole quarter's net profit!

Pity the poor little corporation!

 

[waltky]

Sweet deal, less than one quarter's profits - look for gas prices to go up...

BP agrees to pay $4.5B; 3 employees charged
Nov 15,`12 - -- A day of reckoning arrived for BP on Thursday as the oil giant agreed to plead guilty to a raft of charges in the deadly Gulf of Mexico spill and pay a record $4.5 billion, including the biggest criminal fine in U.S. history. Three BP employees were also charged, two of them with manslaughter.

The settlement with the federal government came 2 1/2 years after the fiery drilling-rig explosion that killed 11 workers and set off the nation's largest offshore oil spill. In announcing the deal, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said the tragedy "resulted from BP's culture of privileging profit over prudence." BP will plead guilty to charges involving the 11 deaths and lying to Congress about how much oil was spewing from the blown-out well. "We believe this resolution is in the best interest of BP and its shareholders," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP chairman. "It removes two significant legal risks and allows us to vigorously defend the company against the remaining civil claims."

The settlement appears to be easily affordable for BP, which made a record $25.8 billion in profits last year. And it will have five years to pay. But the oil giant still faces several billion dollars in additional claims for damage to people's livelihoods and the environment. Separately, BP rig workers Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine were indicted on federal charges of manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, accused of repeatedly disregarding abnormal high-pressure readings that should have been glaring indications of trouble just before the blowout. In addition, David Rainey, BP's former vice president of exploration for the Gulf of Mexico, was charged with obstruction of Congress and making false statements. Prosecutors said he withheld information that more oil was gushing from the well than he let on.

Rainey's lawyers said he did "absolutely nothing wrong." And attorneys for the two rig workers accused the Justice Department of making scapegoats out of them. Both men are still with BP. "Bob was not an executive or high-level BP official. He was a dedicated rig worker who mourns his fallen co-workers every day," Kaluza attorneys Shaun Clarke and David Gerger said in a statement. "No one should take any satisfaction in this indictment of an innocent man. This is not justice."

MORE

See also:

BP gets record US criminal fine over Deepwater disaster
15 November 2012 - The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused one of the worst oil spills in history

BP has received the biggest criminal fine in US history as part of a $4.5bn (£2.8bn) settlement related to the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Two BP workers have been indicted on manslaughter charges and an ex-manager charged with misleading Congress. The Department of Justice (DoJ) said BP must hand over $4bn. The sum includes a $1.26bn fine as well as payments to wildlife and science organisations.

As part of the agreement, BP will also plead guilty to 14 criminal charges. The company apologised for its role and said it regretted the loss of life. BP will pay an additional $525m to the Securities and Exchange Commission over a period of three years, the firm said.

The resolution with the DoJ includes a record criminal fine of $1.26bn, as well as $2.4bn to be paid to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and $350m to be paid to the National Academy of Sciences, over a period of five years. DoJ Attorney General Eric Holder said its resolution "stands as a testament to the hard work of countless investigators, attorneys, support staff members, and other personnel".

More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20336898

 

[Politico]

from CNN-BP will plead guilty to manslaughter charges

If you're gonna report something don't make crap up.

 

[Mr. H.]

Where's that thread about BP and Benghazi?

 

[there4eyeM]

from CNN-BP will plead guilty to manslaughter charges

If you're gonna report something don't make crap up.

Made up? This was a quote from CNN; perhaps they made it up, but not I.

 

[Politico]

I wasn't talking about CNN but what you wrote. BP wasn't charged with Manslaughter. It was two rig workers who were charged in seperate indictments. The sick part is how you guys have obsessed over:

1. Royal ass pictures
2. Empty chairs
3. Tinfoil NWO conspiracies
4. The 47%
5. Snookie
6. Chris Christie

And about 100 other things. Meanwhile back in the real world, BP spent the last three years crafting a way to get off basically scott free. And now people are suddenly upset? Pathetic.

 

[there4eyeM]

?

 

[waltky]

The other shoe drops...

BP faces temporary ban from new US contracts
28 November 2012 - The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers

BP has been temporarily suspended from new contracts with the US government, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said. While it is unclear how long the ban will last, it follows BP's record fine earlier this month over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The EPA said it was taking action due to BP's "lack of business integrity" over its handling of the blowout. But BP said it had spent $14bn (£8.8bn) on its response to the spill. "The BP suspension will temporarily prevent the company and the named affiliates from getting new federal government contracts, grants or other covered transactions until the company can provide sufficient evidence to EPA demonstrating that it meets federal business standards," said the EPA in a statement. "Suspensions are a standard practice when a responsibility question is raised by action in a criminal case."

'Resolve and lift' ban

The EPA and BP both said that the temporary ban would not affect existing agreements BP has with the government. The oil giant added that the suspension may in fact be lifted quite soon. "The EPA has informed BP that it is preparing a proposed administrative agreement that, if agreed upon, would effectively resolve and lift this temporary suspension," BP said. "Over the past five years, BP has invested more than $52bn in the United States - more than any other oil and gas company, and more than it invests in any other country where it operates. On top of this business investment, BP has to date spent more than $14bn in operational response and clean-up costs." Since the Deepwater Horizon accident, the US has granted BP more than 50 new leases in the Gulf of Mexico, where the company has been drilling safely since the government moratorium was lifted. For now, BP is to be excluded from the lease of new exploration fields in the Gulf of Mexico, including some 20 million acres that was auctioned on Wednesday.

'Reckless'

Congressman Ed Markey, a senior member of the Natural Resources Committee in Congress, said: "When someone recklessly crashes a car, their licence and keys are taken away." "The wreckage of BP's recklessness is still sitting at the bottom of the ocean and this kind of time out is an appropriate element of the suite of criminal, civil and economic punishments that BP should pay for their disaster," he added. BP's finance director Brian Gilvary told investors earlier this month that the group would have to rethink its entire US strategy were a blanket ban put in place. "How big this is depends on how long it lasts," said Phil Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research. "It's a negative that they can't participate in (Wednesday's sale), but it's not a big concern. If it happens two times, or three times, or 10 times, it's a much bigger concern."

Pentagon contracts

 

[Mr. H.]

Resolve and lift?


How about lift and flatten!

 

[Mr. H.]

RIGZONE - BP Ban on Bidding Could Hurt Energy Industry, U.S. Gov't

Banning BP from bidding in future offshore lease sales could have a hugely negative ripple effect on drilling contractors and the rest of the offshore industry as well as the Gulf region, and even the federal government, the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) reported Friday.

The offshore oil and gas industry, which is based almost entirely in the Gulf of Mexico, supported over 200,000 American jobs in 2010 and contributed nearly $80 billion in revenues to the Federal government from 2001-2010.

 

[KissMy]

BP cut to many corners & ran a BOP after they knew for a fact that it bad seals. They are killers & are not to be trusted.

Big multinational BP is out leaving more room for smaller US companies to fill the space creating more US jobs.

 

[TNHarley]

Whatever they get, they deserve more

 

[Mr. H.]

BP cut to many corners & ran a BOP after they knew for a fact that it bad seals. They are killers & are not to be trusted.

Big multinational BP is out leaving more room for smaller US companies to fill the space creating more US jobs.

How about a review of all industrial accidents and incidents?

Mining/manufacturing/processing/agriculture/factory/workplace....

Let's work up a complete list of "killers" not to be trusted.

 

[KissMy]

Williams says, during a test, they closed the gasket. But while it was shut tight, a crewman on deck accidentally nudged a joystick, applying hundreds of thousands of pounds of force, and moving 15 feet of drill pipe through the closed blowout preventer. Later, a man monitoring drilling fluid rising to the top made a troubling find.

“He discovered chunks of rubber in the drilling fluid. He thought it was important enough to gather this double handful of chunks of rubber and bring them into the driller shack. I recall asking the supervisor if this was out of the ordinary. And he says, ‘Oh, it’s no big deal.’ And I thought, how can it be not a big deal? There’s chunks of our seal is now missing.”

How the hell did they expect to get accurate negative pressure test readings when testing the cement well plug if they had no seal?????? How the hell does someone get put in charge of a huge dangerous operation like deep water drilling & not have a clue as to what they are doing?????? Sounds like a banker was in charge instead of a driller.

 

[Mr. H.]

Well that's all academic at this point, isn't it?