BP Ties Compensation Fund to Its Continued Profitable Drilling in the Gulf

[amborin]

BP Ties Compensation Fund to Gulf Coast Drilling Revenues

The Huffington Post is reporting the oil giant BP appears to have structured its $20 billion compensation fund so that it will only be solvent if the company continues profiting from oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The US government’s agreement establishing the fund isn’t with BP or even BP America, but with a subsidiary called BP Exploration & Production, or BPEC, which operates BP’s Gulf oil leases. Vested with BPEC, the compensation fund could presumably fold in the event BPEC stops generating revenue from its Gulf operations. The structuring also could increase BP’s leverage in ensuring a continued Gulf presence, should it come under challenge.

In a statement, the watchdog group Public Citizen called the arrangement "wildly inappropriate," adding, "It will give the government a financial incentive to become an even bigger booster of offshore oil drilling in the Gulf—the fatal flaw of the Minerals Management Service at the time of the BP disaster."

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/12/headlines#7


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New Orleans Federal Judge to Hear Consolidated BP Oil Spill Cases

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Tuesday ordered the wrongful death and economic and environmental damages actions against BP PLC and other defendants sent to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The panel's order said that New Orleans was the "geographic and psychological center of gravity" for the oil spill. Barbier has agreed to hear the cases.

snip

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month refused to order Barbier to recuse himself from spill-related cases, even though he previously owned corporate bonds issued by two of the defendants. Barbier has divested his holdings in Transocean and Halliburton to avoid the appearance of a conflict.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-Orleans-Federal-Judge-to-law-260497847.html?x=0&.v=1

[notesdev]

1. 3d hypersuperchess plays on

The question is, who is actually the opponent?

[RC]

2. Who's running the show here, the Bush Administration?

[Odin2005]

3. Those bastards!

:grr:

[Individualist]

4. K&R