bp advertising, circa 1999.
A weblog about urbanism, technology, & culture.
Posted in: communications, environment, media.
Tagged: BP · British Petroleum · disaster · Gulf of Mexico · Louisiana · oil
This is a weblog about urban issues, technology, & culture published by Jordon Cooper since 2001. You can read about me and the site here and if you are looking for one of my columns in The StarPhoenix, you can find them here.
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During the dot com boom, one gig I worked was a Canadian company. I was surprised how much “British Colonial Paternalism” was a part of this company, and was told that this was typical.
Being closer to the British organizational model than most Americans, how do you feel that BP’s organizational philosophy affects the ability to produce oil safely?
My father was an oilfield consultant and now owns a large oil field services company so I am somewhat familiar with oil field culture.
Safety is huge. I don’t know if they would have so concentrated on the idea that if we screw up, we hurt Louisiana, they would have been really, really conscious of the fact that decisions can lead to lost lives. While the economic disaster has been huge, a mistake was made that caused 11 guys to lose their lives as well.
Like a lot of wells, the final decision would have been made by the guys on the rig so we may never know what happened but this looks like isolated incompetance or a honest mistake.
Of course the other factor seems to be is that BP/Halliburton seemed to be focused on providing less safety than other rigs. That I can’t understand.