BP and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster of 2010

Botello Gersaint

Diana Milena González Chaustre

Johanna Ortega Corredor

Angie Contreras Cristina Ramirez

UNIMINUTO

postgraduate Distance

Specialization in Occupational Risk Management

Cucuta

2019
 TEST

On April 20, 2010, an oil platform British Petroleum (BP) exploded, killing 11 workers on the

platform and pouring tens of thousands of barrels of oil in the Gulf Mexico. This oil spill in the

Gulf of Mexico was triggered by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig that has become far

the biggest impact in history worldwide since their numbers alone are overwhelmed by the massive

spill voluntary perpetrated by the regime of Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf war.

A surround mode is believed that the oil spill would cause damage BP long term the nearby coast

and thereby alter the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill of nearly five million barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, 800 kilometers from the coast,

damaged the natural habitat of the area and its main industries of fishing and tourism, leaving

environmental destruction and long-term economic problems for both countries.

As for the direct economic damage, we found the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon platform that

represented a loss of $ 560 million to Transocean and Lloyds of London, the insurance company

that had written the platform; Since the discovery of oil in the world for the first time, it has not

been able to replace that resource to be unique, so that the oil industry has expanded into the

exploration and extraction of oil in sea areas with the construction of different types of oil

platforms in accordance with the area and the cost that this may have when being constructed as

to be maintained is that you opt for choosing the ideal. The lack of government controls over

security mechanisms also had their part in the disaster produced surely by a combination of human

error and faulty equipment. The oil industry is not regulated by governments but itself ensures the

safety of their offshore platforms.

Good corporate governance (BGC) is regarded as the power to share responsibility for the

management and decision-making in a company, which among other things includes its economic

performance, the development of human resources, internal control and protection of all

stakeholders, whether they are shareholders, suppliers, employees, community. This government

must be done with criteria of transparency and fairness to generate confidence and attract

investment, the case of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig showed serious deficiencies in

the company BP in the practice of the principles of good corporate governance. The main damages

are:

 A remedy difficult environmental catastrophe,

 Losses of more than 15 000 million, which is a record in British companies

 Reduction of 40% of the value of the company

Significantly, a committee appointed by the National Academy of Engineering of the United States

conducted a study of the procedures and actions carried out before and during the spill to know

their causes. The results reveal that there was human error: the pressure test data on drilling were

misinterpreted by the staff of the platform. On three occasions, the data from instruments that

monitor the well in real time indicated that pressure had increased when it should have decreased.

The report reveals that not taken into account factors such as fatigue of workers from excessive

working hours. also it makes mention of a poor safety culture.