BP CEO: “What the hell did we do to deserve this?” Let's see:

[ProSense]

Is BP the Goldman Sachs of Big Oil? CEO Hayward says to fellow executives: “What the hell did we do to deserve this?”

Let's see: How about a spotty safety record, insistence on voluntary 'trust me' self-regulation, a drilling plan that ignored key risks, and failure to use best shut-off technology to save a few bucks?

May 2, 2010

Limit government, we’re told. Big companies will police themselves because the potential loss in revenue and reputation is motivation enough, we’re told. The predictable result is Goldman Sachs, Massey Energy, and BP.

If you Google ‘British Petroleum cited violations‘ you get 192,000 hits. One of the most revealing is “MMS Records Show BP Has Previous Deepwater Violations” (excerpted below).

CBS and the AP report “BP Didn’t Plan for Major Oil Spill: Company Suggests in Documents that Likelihood of Accident Happening was Virtually Impossible.”

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At the same time, BP’s “it can’t happen here” mentality is no doubt why it decided to save $500,000 and didn’t bother with “a remote-control shutoff switch that two other major oil producers, Norway and Brazil, require,” the WSJ reported (subs. req’d).

BP knows it can’t blame the feds since it fought efforts to change the voluntary self-regulation laws, the industry opposed mandates for the remote-control shutoff switch, BP sold the Minerals Management Service on a laughable planning scenario — it was “unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities” — and the industry, not the feds, have the relevant equipment to stop the gusher.

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[FSogol]

1. Isn't BP the company that claimed that a fire in a plant full of safety violations

was an act of God? Seize their assets to pay for the cleanup. That should get the teabaggers panties in a bunch.

[ClarkUSA]

2. Their opposition to a $500K remote shut-off valve is going to cost them (and their insurer) > $14B

Their lack of disaster planning is criminal as well. Both of these glaring mistakes will be no doubt addressed in future U.S. drilling regulations that will be formulated by the Obama administration.