COMMUNICATION 3300: BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION REPORT

BPs Response to Oil Spill
Lisa Evergree

Poor management communication can cause many problems for a company. It can result in the
failure of a firms operations which are scrutinized by the public. BP is a clear example of how
poor management communication could lead to a disaster. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill will
never be forgotten as well as who was responsible for it.
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MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION REPORT

BPs Response to Oil Spill
Lisa Evergree
Winter 2011

Before April 20, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico was a beautiful body of water, which was home to
many aquatic and wildlife species. It was a getaway spot for tourists and locals to enjoy the
white-sanded beaches and recreational activities. However, due to the need for oil and the poor
management of a company quickly turned an attractive area into a disaster. To understand why
the oil spill occurred, you have to dig deep to uncover why they failed to respond and how it
could have been prevented.

Overview
This report will take a look at the effects of the BP oil spill and how they responded. It will go in
depth to understand how BP let this happen and why their attempts to resolve it failed. Finally, it
will suggest ways in which it could have been prevented.

How it Happened
Offshore drilling was the main reason why this occurred. If you have an oil well in the Gulf of
Mexico, you should be prepared for the possibility of an oil spill. Before the oil spill occurred,
President Obama announced that he wanted to expand offshore drilling, since we are more
technologically advanced and we have the skills to prevent this from happening (Mcquaid,
2010). The effects of BP have shown us that offshore drilling is indeed not safe. The explosion
of the Deepwater Horizon well was the start of BPs failures. At this point, it could have been
prevented. A blowout preventer, which would have kept the oil from spilling, failed to activate
(Mcquaid, 2010). This led to a number of effects, to not only humans but also our ecosystem.
See Figure 1.

Figure 1. Image of the damage in the Gulf

of Mexico ("Bp oil spill:," 2010).
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Effects of the Oil Spill

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had tremendous effects, which affected people who live near
the gulf to hurting the economy. It was estimated that 60,000 barrels of oil gushed out each day
from April 20 through July ("Bp oil spill:," 2010). Of this amount, it was estimated that only
17% was captured and 26% was still at sea or on shore; see Figure 2. The following are some of
the long-lasting effects of the oil spill:

Over 8,000 birds and mammals were killed ("How does the," 2011).
The decline of the ecosystem affects the food web, which led to a decline in fishing for
recreation as well as commercial uses.
People who lived along the Gulf Coast experienced internal and external health effects,
such as skin rashes, respiratory problems and anxiety.

Figure 2. Where the oil has gone, as of Aug. 1, according to a government report. ("Tracking
the oil," 2010).

BPs Failed Attempts

It took months and several tries for BP to stop the oil from spilling into the gulf. Here are a few
of the unsuccessful attempts:

To contain the oil, they planned to put a dome over the leak, which would prevent oil
from rising to the surface. This did not work due to ice that built up from cold seawater
and methane (Kofman, 2010).
BP tried to stop the leak by pumping 30,000 barrels of mud into the well, which was also
unsuccessful.
Undersea robots tried to install pipes to suck up the oil and bring it up to a ship to store
(Kofman, 2010).
Failure after failure proved that BP was not ready for this situation. Why were they not ready?
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Who is Responsible?
Undoubtedly, BP is responsible for the mess in the Gulf of Mexico. The question that arises is
how did they let this happen? The bottom line is there was a lack of communication among
managers. As stated earlier, the first way this could have been prevented is to prevent offshore
drilling. Unfortunately, we are so dependent on this resource that this is not an option. If BP was
allowed to drill offshore, then there should have been strict regulations and procedures in place
to deal with this. The lack of oversight was the main issue.

Prevention of the Oil Spill

As of March 2011, BP has spent $632 million related
to the oil spill ("Oil spill cost," 2011.) See Figure 3. Bill
These major expenses could have been prevented in number Date Sent Amount
the following ways: 1 5/27/2010 $1.8 million
2 6/3/2010 $69.09 million
The government agency responsible for 3 6/21/2010 $51.4 million
regulating offshore drilling needed to have 4 7/13/2010 $99.7 million
better oversight over BP (Liggett, 2010). 5 8/10/2010 $167.9 million
BP needed to be better equipped with the 6 9/8/2010 $128.5 million
technology to put an end to the leak. 7 10/12/2010 $62.6 million
They lacked an adequate strategy to be able
8 11/18/2010 $25.4 million
to deal with the possibility of a disaster.
9 1/11/2011 $26.2 million
10 3/10/2011 $62 million

FiFigure 3. A summary of BPs

expenses. ("Oil spill cost," 2011).

Why Should We Care?

As future managers and business leaders, we have something to learn from BP. If we own our
own company, we have to make sure we have the resources and strategy to effectively deal with
a disaster, no matter how small. We do not want to be the company that people are dissatisfied
with and be portrayed in a negative way. Boycotts of BP gas were common because of what
occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. We do not want to manage the company that people will protest,
so we need to have effective communication with our managers and employees.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was a disaster to not only humans, but also animals and the
economy. Many people are still feeling the effects of it today. If the proper regulations were in
order and BP was better prepared for the worst, this could have been prevented. However, we
are dependent on oil, which makes you realize we need an alternative to this dangerous resource
(Roberts, 2006). BP is on their way to taking to the necessary steps to fix what happened. They
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refer to the oil spill as a mistake. Hopefully, the old slogan you learn from your mistakes holds
true to BP.
References

BP oil spill: End of oil drilling. (2010, September 30). Retrieved from
http://newsflavor.com/world/usa-canada/bp-oil-spill-end-of-oil-drilling/

How does the BP oil spill impact wildlife and habitat?. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.nwf.org/Oil-Spill/Effects-on-Wildlife.aspx

Kofman, J. (2010, May 3). New attempt to stop oil leak. Retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-attempts-strategy-stop-oil-flow-gulf-mexico/story?
id=10641228&page=2

Liggett, B. (2010, September 30). Study shows bp oil spill could have been prevented by
regulation. Retrieved from http://inhabitat.com/study-shows-bp-oil-spill-could-have-
been-prevented-by-regulation/2/

Mcquaid, J. (2010, May 10). The gulf of mexico oil spill: an accident waiting to happen.
Retrieved from http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2272

Oil spill cost and reimbursement fact sheet. (2011, March 11). Retrieved from
http://www.restorethegulf.gov/release/2011/03/11/oil-spill-cost-and-reimbursement-fact-
sheet

Roberts, P. (2006). Oil. Farmington Hills, MI : Thomson Gale.

Tracking the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. (2010). Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html

Please note
The above references are not in the correct order. Do not copy
the above format. Make sure you check out your own.
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