BP Had No Plan for Responding to Deepwater Oil Disaster

BP is trying to fight on multiple fronts and in multiple ways the massive and unprecedented oil spill it created in the Gulf of Mexico with the explosion of its Deepwater Horizon deep-sea oil drilling platform.

While the company knows they need to address the oil spill on three fronts - at the sub-sea level, on the surface and on the shore - because they had no plan for such a disaster, they still haven’t a clue about how to contain it. They aren’t even sure how much oil is leaking at this point.

Tony Hayward, CEO of BP said at a press conference yesterday that “so far, it’s been a good job of containment” and that the company is doing “real time learning which is informing the intervention efforts.”

As upwards of 5,000 barrels of oil a day (NOAA's estimate) continue to flow into the ocean, it''s unclear what might be Hayward's definition of successful 'containment'.

For example, the effort to place a 98-ton, 40 foot high dome to cap the oil flow was not exactly successful by most standards. “There was a lot more gas involved in this leak than we had believed,” Hayward explained. “As we continue to figure out what may or may not be possible with the large dome, we are moving to deploy a small dome.”

The small dome, the size of an oil barrel cut in half, will be deployed in the next 72 hours. BP is managing expectations saying that it won’t be as effective at capturing the oil as the large dome but, they hope, will not have the same issues with hydrate formations.

Another option they are exploring is tapping into a riser and trying to funnel out the gas. Finally, they are considering clogging the failed Blowout Preventer (BOP) to cut off the flow of oil, a method called “top kill.”

When asked why an accident like this wasn’t anticipated and why BP is having to make it up as they go, Hayward said, “there are over 5,000 wells in deep water and this is the first time this has happened. The reality is that there is all sorts of theoretical capability but until we get to use it, it doesn’t matter. Our learning now has profound implications for the future."

But just 8 months prior to the latest Gulf disaster, a BOP failed in deepwater in the Timor Sea. It took 5 tries and 10 weeks to stop the oil flow.

On the surface, they are looking at controlled burns and testing chemical dispersants. The EPA has this to say about dispersants: “The effects of underwater dispersant use on the environment are still widely unknown, which is why we are testing to determine its effectiveness first and foremost.” Again, no real plan for dealing with a deepwater oil spill.

BP’s response to the disaster seems to be to throw darts blindly into the wind and hope that one hits the target. And their position on why they weren’t prepared? How could we be, this wasn’t predictable. The millions of Americans taking a stand against off-shore drilling and warning about the dangers of deepwater operations might beg to differ. Maybe it’s time to listen to them.

Find out everything you want to know about the BP Oil Spill, here.