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BP CEO: Gulf Of Mexico Is A ‘Very Big Ocean’, Amount Of Oil From Leak Is ‘Tiny’

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by Frances Martel | 3:28 pm, May 14th, 2010

» 16 comments

The CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, finally broke his public silence on the tragic Gulf of Mexico oil spill after letting COO Doug Suttles do most of the talking at press conferences, and he’s got great news for the Gulf of Mexico—contrary to what the Mainstream media has been reporting, the oil spill, which is leaking anywhere between 5,000 and 70,000 barrels of oil every day, is “tiny” compared to the size of the the entire Gulf of Mexico. And while he “guarantees” BP will stop the leak, “the only question is we do not know when.”

Sitting down with UK paper The Guardian, Suttles tried to put the spill, on track to being the worst in US history, in perspective– by comparing the amount of oil to the total amount of water in the Gulf:

Tony Hayward, the beleaguered chief executive of BP, has claimed its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is “relatively tiny” compared with the “very big ocean”.

In an bullish interview with the Guardian at BP’s crisis centre in Houston, Hayward insisted that the leaked oil and the estimated 400,000 gallons of dispersant that BP has pumped into the sea to try to tackle the slick should be put in context.

“The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume,” he said.

The rest of the interview is littered with allusions to the old BP administration, which Hayward suggests would have done a much worse job cleaning up the spill (which, considering the main line of defense against the spill is now an online suggestion box, seems improbable). He also slams the “speculation, red herrings, and hearsay” surrounding the disaster, and insisted that, just as other disasters had not stopped the growth of technology, the oil industry would not be slowed down by the leak. He also pointed out that he does not feel any job insecurity, but “that of course may change. I will be judged by the nature of the response.”

So let’s judge the nature of his response, that the Gulf of Mexico is a “very big ocean” that can take care of itself. First of all, the Gulf of Mexico is not “very big.” It’s not even an “ocean,” and it’s an insult to the intelligence of the millions around the world dependent on BP for energy to talk about the Gulf of Mexico as if it were a toddler that wet its pants, not to mention the media Hayward seems to be trying to exploit here. After spending the past few weeks tossing the blame around and getting scolded by the President for it, now BP is trying to convince people that, since it is their fault, it actually isn’t so bad. This is Iraqi Information Minister-level delusion, 2008 Terry McAuliffe-level delusion.

There is no possible way to convincingly minimize the devastation on both the environment and the millions of Americans that depend on that environment for a living, and, fortunately, from the ongoing, although tardy, response from the media, it doesn’t seem like they are susceptible to this kind of distortion of reality. If Hayward was attempting to assuage the panic in both the general public and the media, insulting their intelligence by minimizing the damage his company has done to the ecosystem of the southeastern United States is not the way to do it.

BO CEO, BP, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Oil Spill, Tony Hayward

badr

Somebody’s got to put things in perspective.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

Yeah, somebody’s got to put things in perspective — but CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, isn’t that someone because his perspective is effed up. Oh, and Murkowskin and the Republicans are lining up to protect him and BP, too. Limiting their liability so they won’t have to pay, but the US tax payer will pay. I thought the Teapublicans wanted to limit our spending, cut spending, limit government — right?
lazzzlo

Before we debate left or right; this guy is a corporate sleaze. He is playimg the blame game exactly the way that we (as a United States) have sold our liabilities to the highest bidder. And BP is taking advantage of that.

We allowed them to drill. I live on the East coast of Florida…it only bothers the people that are currently seeing the refuse wah up. I’m not a RINO, I am a conservative and that is some poorly executed business plans that win for the short term with no gain for the long term. (Unless you can buy off the next local Senator or 4).

lazzz
lazzzlo

actually,the refuse washes up
lazzzlo

When does the refuse wash up in your back yard? Because, it will. It is just a matter of time.

lazzz
http://jukeofurl.wordpress.com jukeofurl

The upside is – another future movie rôle for Michael Sheen.
AmericanCowboy

You spill the oil…You pay for it

Where was the Governemnt oversight?

I say Obama and the BP CEO should have to lick it all up.
TylerDurden

This is BHO’s mess. The worst environmental disaster in US history and it occurred on Dingle Barry’s watch.
TylerDurden

And BTW, the CEO of BP is a dbag.
akrimediaite

Hmmm . . . worst in U.S. history? Not quite – Exxon Valdez was worse, and there was another oil spill (can’t remember which one) which as of the day before yesterday was still worse than this one. Also, as NPR reported (yesterday), the Mexican Gulf of Mexico spill gushed 40,000 barrels a day for 9 months. BP has a while to go before hitting that benchmark. As for the NPR story referencing the Mexican spill, they quoted supposed experts as saying that they still don’t know where that oil went – most of it “disappeared”. As for response, while the oil industry should have foot the bill for it, NOAA in 1994 got pre-authorized burn-off permission for this part of the Gulf and asked for 7 booms to be placed in the area for just such an emergency. Problem is nobody ever got the booms, so when the emergency that NOAA got the pre-authorization for happened, DHS had to call the only U.S. company who sells booms, they had one boom in North America with easy access and had to call customers to ask to borrow their booms. Hence, the delay in attempting a burn-off for over a week, by which time the weather was against it (wrong wind direction). NOAA should have been able to get those booms 16 years ago when they first asked for them, but they didn’t – if a question of cost, the feds should have bought them and then presented the bill for them to the oil companies operating there. In the meantime, why didn’t NOAA get them? Did the heads of NOAA since then not ask for the budget monies, or did Congressmen balk at the cost? Again, I have no problem with the feds giving the oil industry a bill for monies expended on things which the oil companies bear responsibility for, but the environment would have been better off if someone had listened to NOAA 16 years ago.
AmericanCowboy

I still say Drill baby Drill. We just need safety vavles installed. Let’s get off foriegn oil and then off oil completely.

Lick up that oil Obama – You Failure!!!!

…‹(•¿•)›…‹(•¿•)›…‹(•¿•)›…Common Sense Alert..‹(•¿•)›…‹(•¿•)›…‹(•¿•)›…

BTW – Buycott Arizona. Visit the Great State of Arizona this year. I have planned a trip to Scottsdale for June. Scottsdale has some amazing resorts, great restaurants and shopping, a wild nightlife and some of the greatest golf courses on earth. They also have the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. Let’s support the Great State by spending money there. Vote out politicians who don’t support legal immigration and want to boycott this state. Business owners buy Arizona products!!!!
Grammie

lazzzlo says:
May 14, 2010 at 7:35 pm

lazzzlo says:
May 14, 2010 at 7:47 pm

Lazzlo, if you are having pollution from the Gulf spill on the east coast of FL it must be a miracle as it hasn’t appeared on the west FL coast or the Florida Straits.
TylerDurden

As I said akrimediaite:

Obama lashes execs as spill becoming worst environmental disaster in US history

Saturday, May 15, 2010

While British Petroleum are pursuing efforts at containment of the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, which regardless appears to be growing larger by the hour, US President Barack Obama lashed out at oil companies Friday for trying to divert blame for the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

If experts fears of oil spewing at a rate of up to 70,000 barrels a day are correct it already places this disaster beyond the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, and makes it the worst environmental disaster in US history
shootfromthehip

You have GOT to be kidding me, Tyler and “American Cowboy.”

Make up your minds: do you or don’t you want big government?

I guess whichever way is easier to blame Obama…..

One month you scream “he’s meddling too much with private business!”

This month it’s “where is he? He’s not doing enough to provide oversight of private business!”

Jesus H Christ, you cons are insane.
akrimediaite

TylerDurden: Yeah, but none of the experts agree on the amount. Low is 5,000, high is 70,000. The writer is citing the “high” figure, but honest experts all say they just don’t know (the video prompting the 70,000 estimate is considered too murky to be sure).
AmericanCowboy

I blame Obama for the slow clean up. I want to see the Commie out there with a mop and bucket. Now there is a job he might be qualified for. Scrub Commie Scrub!!!!