"Burning Petroleum" - Spill Chewing Large Holes In BP Green Paint Job, Stock Price

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The magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon disaster seems to be finally sinking in with investors. BP’s stock plunged more than 8 percent Thursday in American trading in an otherwise strong day for stocks. Since the accident, the American depositary receipts of the company have fallen about 13 percent, closing Thursday at $52.56. For Tony Hayward, who has led BP for the last three years, the accident threatens to overshadow all of the efforts he has made to burnish the tattered reputation of the company after a refinery explosion in Texas in 2005 and a pipeline leak in Alaska in 2006. As Mr. Hayward said to fellow executives in his London office recently, “What the hell did we do to deserve this?”

A BP spokesman said no executives were available for an interview Thursday. But in response to a written question, Mr. Hayward said, “Reputationally, and in every other way, we will be judged by the quality, intensity, speed and efficacy of our response.”

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Senior executives insist that the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 workers does not reflect the company’s safety standards or Mr. Hayward’s management. “This accident took place on a rig owned, managed and operated by Transocean,” said Andrew Gowers, a BP spokesman. “It involves the failure of a piece of equipment on that rig. So the unfolding events do not arise from a failure of BP’s safety systems.”

But critics in Congress and elsewhere have questioned BP’s commitment to safety. Last year, when the federal Minerals Management Service proposed a rule that would have required companies to have their safety and environmental management programs audited once every three years, BP and other companies objected. The agency is also investigating charges by a whistle-blower that the company discarded important records from its Atlantis Gulf platform.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/business/30bp.html

[Statistical]

1. They just don't get it do they?

"“What the hell did we do to deserve this?”"

I don't know maybe fight against regulations that would have required more safety equipment and backup emergency valves which could have prevented this.

The irony is if BP and other oil lobbyist had lost and govt had required a higher level of safety & redundancy it might have saved them billions.

Too stupid to see more than one quarter in front of them.

Safe rig = rig not on bottom of ocean = profitable rig.