Deepwater Horizon Bp Analysis in Terms of Risk Managment

Managing the Oil Spill

BP took active role in cleaning up, working under the management of federal government to respond very quickly to reimburse the people who influenced by such a huge accident. BP administered several studies to find out and determine the harm that has been done to the natural resources of Gulf of Mexico.

Array of methods were utilized to minimize the effect on environment under the basic techniques that were: to contain oil at first glance, dispersal, and removal.

Containment booms expanding thousands of feet were positioned to protect near coasts, ecologically sensitive areas. They were stretched 0.48 and 1.22 metre below and above the surface and only effective in calm waters. However, booms were criticized a lot by experts that they cannot resist 4-5 foot waves as a result allows oil to escape the the  boom from under a and above the surface.

BP and USA Coast Guard agreed to spray a chemical dispersant on an unprecedented scale. The chemical dispersant is called Corexit. Manufacturer thinks it is effective, that what BP hopes. Petroleum industry seems has come to like oil dispersant: simply spray the dispersant and oil disappears. Basically, chemical dissolves plumes of red oils into droplets that sinks below the surface and are suspended in the water that makes the oil invisible to the naked eye, but in fact, it is still there. It’s just been distributed throughout the water column.

To avoid such a visible scenario three basic approaches were applied for removing the oil from the water: combustion, offshore filtration, and collection. According to the calculations roughly 5% of spilled oil was burned on the surface and 3% was skimmed.

It was obvious that BP wasn’t ready for the crises. They messed up all the ways to respond media. First, BP didn’t own the problem. They immediately chose to make other people, especially, engineers, contractors of pipe, guilty for the accident. Former CEO did not even show up within 24 hours for explanation. To the media and public as well, BP was totally irresponsible for not taking the blame. Second, the truth was trying to be hidden but it was so obvious to the media. When BP officials said that only 1000 barrels of oil spilled in a day, but it was 5000 instead.  It angered the public, and people were no longer trust on BP. Third, BP has had several strategies to tackle down the crises but after all they did not implement them all. All talk but no action. It was damaging the company’s credibility as a whole. The one thing BP did correct was the dealing with crises through social media. BP was uploading the pictures from disasters and cleaning-up process. They were creating live videos on what BP doing for restoration and so on. It was undoubtedly very good idea for BP to interact with people through social media to overcome the critical situation.