BP, pollution and greed

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is without doubt a major catastrophe which ever way you choose to analyse it. It has been established that oil companies have been cutting the margin for error to such an extent that any disaster was likely to be on a mega scale rather than a local spill (which is bad enough). This is bad news for everyone - for all stake-holders involved:

• Those who lost a loved one in the original explosion
• The residents of the Gulf coast
• The fishermen and tourism people whose livelihoods are threatened
• BP share holders
• BP
• Tony Hayward - BP CEO
• Barack Obama
• You and me

This spill has been, and still is, out of control. The best minds in the business have been applying themselves to finding a solution and they're still working on it. This is clearly a complex situation with complex outcomes in a host of arenas.

Amidst the uncertainty, there are some things we can say and ask for sure:

• We can ask is it purely profitability that pushes oil companies to tender for bids with low production costs or do the developers drive these prices down too?
• Who is demanding cheaper oil? You and me - the consumers.
• In a global business, do you hire a CEO with a track record and potential to deliver sustained growth and development for your company or, on the off-chance that something catastrophic goes wrong, someone who is media savvy and will present well?
• Obama can sack Generals, but he can't stop a natural resource from flowing. How powerful is the President of the USA? No amount of rhetoric or Congressional hearings can stop one drop of oil from bursting into the sea.
• BP might be a British company, but weren't they using local sub-contractors?
• Does anyone really think BP wants this to continue?

There are undoubtedly technical reasons for this mess. Someone made a wrong judgement on safety margins, there may even have been incompetence. That does not change the fact that these processes are governed by the mantra - maximum exploitation of natural resources at the lowest cost. However, what the media have failed to report is that that mantra is being chanted by you and me - every hour of every day.