and oil sites. British Petroleum or BP as many of us know it has been the subject of much criticism throughout the years for their greed driven business practices. Although regarded as one of the most prominent oil companies of our time, BP’s cruel businesses practices has ruined their reputation and costed millions in lawsuits.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in my opinion, was not an accident at all, but another example of BP’s bad business practice of trying to cut costs. I will cite two of many incidents where BP cut costs for selfish reasons, which eventually caused disasters at their facilities and the lives of many workers and bystanders. In The Spill, David Uhlmann from the Department of Justice stated “This is a company that has bought us the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, that’s not an accident” when referring to BP.
In 2005, at BP’s Texas City Refinery, which is the third largest oil refinery in the United States, experienced a massive explosion, which took the lives of 15 people and injured 170. The refinery in itself was the site of many safety hazards and out dated equipment. “It was the worst refinery around this area for sure” said safety consultant Mike Sawyer. After a
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Many were excited about the new heights the company was taking however, BP took a big height without knowing the risks. Again, the company lived up to its mediocre reputation and a terrible explosion occurred at the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf. The explosion spread and caused barrels of oil and gas into a well shaft, which eventually passed through various routes that ultimately failed in preventing the oil and gas to spill. This spill became the largest in U.S. History and claimed the lives of 11 BP workers. This spill also sent 4.9 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. The cause of this disaster was again BP’s need to cut costs and purchase materials that were not stable enough to maintain its