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A year later, BP looks stronger
AP
Photo
FILE - This April 21, 2010, file photo show the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning after an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, off the southeast tip of Louisiana. BP, the oil giant at the center of one of the world's biggest environmental crises, is making strong profits again, its stock has largely rebounded, and it is paying dividends to shareholders once more. It is also pursuing new ventures from the Arctic to India. It is even angling to explore again in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where it holds more leases than any competitor.
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS
It’s hard to tell that just a year ago, BP was reeling from financial havoc and an American public out for blood.
The oil giant at the center of one of the world’s biggest environmental crises is making strong profits again, its stock has largely rebounded, and it is paying dividends to shareholders once more. It also is pursuing new ventures from the Arctic to India. It even is angling to explore again in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where it holds more leases than any competitor.
“BP has a critical role to play in meeting the world’s ever-growing need for energy,” BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said at the company’s annual meeting in London last week.
Though some of this angers Gulf Coast residents, it is a testament to some deft handling of the crisis by the company, which after some major gaffes early on conducted a housecleaning in its executive ranks, adopted a careful communications strategy and assigned an outsider to handle victims’ compensation claims.
The company’s decision to open its checkbook and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Gulf communities, help out-of-work rig hands and support Gulf research also contributed to the turnaround.
Yet BP is not out of the woods yet.
BP employees could be found criminally negligent for the 206 million gallons of oil the U.S. government says gushed from the company’s blown-out well and for the 11 men who died when the Deepwater Horizon rig it was leasing exploded. Hundreds of lawsuits and civil and criminal fines could add billions of dollars to its already staggering liabilities. And the findings of several investigations still under way could further damage its reputation.
BP has estimated that the spill will cost the company at least $40.9 billion but is hoping to force some of its partners on the doomed rig to assume some of those costs.
There also is lasting damage in the Gulf, including empty hotels, out-of-work oystermen and fears of a badly disrupted underwater ecosystem. And some of those worst hit by the spill scoff at BP’s oft-repeated promises to make people whole again.
“I don’t know of one person who has come to me and said, ‘I’ve been made whole. I feel good.’ Everything is completely negative from everybody,” said Louisiana fishing guide Ron Price.
When BP finally managed to cap its runaway well in July and permanently sealed it in September, the bankruptcy talk was reduced to a whisper, and the 24-hour-a-day beating the company was taking on television and newspaper front pages eased up.
By the fall, there was talk that the crisis wasn’t as bad as feared and that the Gulf might recover sooner than expected. Then soaring oil prices came to the company’s rescue, boosting its bottom line. Now, as Wednesday’s anniversary approaches, the oil spill that so riveted the nation’s attention is beginning to fade into memory.
For the families of the men killed on the rig, BP’s resilience can be downright painful.
“BP has never done anything other than send flowers and three people to Jason’s memorial service,” said Shelley Anderson, the widow of rig worker Jason Anderson.
BP officials point out that they set aside $20 billion for a fund that is still processing claims for victims of the disaster, though only $3.8 billion of it actually has been paid to date. They also still employ cleanup and recovery workers, though far fewer than before.
Company officials also say they are living up to their commitments to restore the region’s economy and environment.
“BP has not — and will not — shy away from its responsibilities,” CEO Bob Dudley told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting, which was marked by scuffles between protesters and security guards and investor dissent over the performance of several directors.