British Petroleum Case Summary

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Brief Summary of the British Petroleum Case British Petroleum is the world’s third-largest energy company that operates in over eighty countries (Exercise: British Petroleum). During the summer of 2010 there was infamous accident that led to an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the southern coast of the United States, as well as the loss of lifes. This spill continued for three long months. This oil leak has damaged and had continuous negative effects on the coastal environment and BP’s reputation. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, an oil drilling platform, on April 20, 2010 took the lives of eleven workers, injured seventeen others and leaked close to five million barrels of crude oil into the ocean (Exercise: British Petroleum). BP’s…show more content…
BP was quick to deny responsibility of the leak/explosion, but was willing to accept accountability of cleaning up of the oil, which was the product they drill for. It should not be this way, but it was. BP will always be known as the worst oil spill in U.S. history, not only because of what happened, but also due to the manner in which they handled the situation. They lost trust and creditability from the public due to a lack of transparency and acceptance of responsibility. Another thing that really stands out is the fact that it took BP 87 days to cap the leak (Frost). As a personal opinion, that was too long. BP should have completed that process with a sense of urgency to cease the amount of oil being spilled into the ocean at a much more rapid pace. I feel that BP, through their own actions, damaged their company reputation. I personally was not familiar with BP in 2010, but quickly became familiar with negative connotations regarding the company. BP failed to connect with the public prior to the accident because they didn’t have social media engagement. Little did they realize how important social media is to a company and its reputation. BP now uses Facebook as a means of communication with the public, still highlighting the great things about their company. I found it interesting that BP makes very little recognition to the event on their own website’s history page: “On 20 April, an explosion and subsequent fire led to the loss of 11 lives and the sinking of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which had been completing operations on the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico (see BP’s response, below, and find out more about its commitment to the Gulf of Mexico)” (The new millennium –

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