BP/Obama

BP has not been “British Petroleum” for about 15 years. Nearly 40% of the company is US owned – another 40% is British.

BP entered the US market around 1966 as the BP Oil Company. Around 1989, it was reorganized as BP America. About ten years later it merged with Amoco to form BP Amoco, later shortened to simply BP. The moniker “British Petroleum” has never been used officially in the United States.

BP’s American operations consist largely of what used to be Amoco (formerly Standard Oil of Indiana), Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio and Boron brands), Atlantic Richfield (Arco), portions of the former Gulf and Sinclair companies, and a number of local and regional companies. This explains what it has nearly as many American as British shareholders.

Rightly or wrongly, BP has long had the reputation of being the worst run major oil company in the US. Deserved or not, that reputation is now permanent. BP stations across the country — nearly all owned or operated by local dealers or distributors — are reporting large drops in sales. Industry observers expect BP to either change its American trademark or maybe leave the retail market completely.

A change in name won’t be cheap, either. In 1972, the Esso, Enco, and Humble trademarks were replaced by Exxon at a reported cost of $42 million dollars. In 1998, it was reported that the average cost of rebranding a single station was $30,000.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hayward’s coolness in committee yesterday. That’s the response of a scientist rather than a PR aware executive. The Senators were not happy bunnies at all!

Obama pours so much over-the-top vitriol on BP that his cracks are beginning to show. He hates everything British – the very first thing he did when he entered the Oval Office was to throw out a bust of Churchill, and it’s been reported that the British Army tortured his grandfather during the Mau Mau rebellion….

So true,I thought he was `mixed race`? ie his mother was white? ,and he`s actually Kenyan? and is changing the name of the `whitehouse`…..or painting it…………..(now wait for that float to bob).I`ve got a great picture of a Lincoln bombing the Mau Mau terrorists wasn`t that their only combat claim?

Right now Obama is grandstanding…trying to convince everyone he’s on top of the situation. When a resonaly objective review would show that he was weak in the early part of the leak.
(Barry, here’s an Idea for a new TV show…”The Weakest Leak” 😀 ).

He thinks people have 30 second attention spans (which some do), so the more he’s on TV from the Gulf or badmouthing BP…regardless of any facts…he thinks he doing well.

:D:D:D Well they got their OIL ok :D:D:diablo:

:D:D:D Hey, offer it to the White House, Anna – they’ll go for it.:) Actually I think Jon Stewart really would use it……….;)

America wanted oil for years, now it can drill its own beaches :diablo: Only a joke chaps .

Well I certainly didn’t need the avatar to know from whence you hailed……:D

Does anyone else think that it is about time our new PM got on the phone to point out a few facts to the beleagured US President, before he ruins the lives of rather a large number of British pensioners? .

Well…. since our “PM” only has this country’s rich folk at heart i doubt he gives a flying feck about folk who need to have a pension to get by….
welcome to cameron’s “only for the rich” government. Irony being probably most of the pensioners about to get stung voted this lot in!!!

Its been bothering me too RH

Our (unelected) PM is to busy pretending to care about our forces in Afghanistan to deal with this, and if he was not there he would be to busy wheeling crusty old Thatcher out (what was that about).

If anything Obama damaged chances of equality in goverment by allowing him self to be a novelty. Clinton was always the best choice.

I’m afraid he never won me over during the campaign. I never trusted his rhetoric – too good to be true, but the world and enough of his electorate was taken in by a fresh faced black man, and he is now, well into his Presidency, one of the least popular in recent years. And if he screws up BP will be loathed by many this side of the “pond”. Cameron better talk a bit tougher this weekend.

Obama pours so much over-the-top vitriol on BP that his cracks are beginning to show. He hates everything British – the very first thing he did when he entered the Oval Office was to throw out a bust of Churchill, and it’s been reported that the British Army tortured his grandfather during the Mau Mau rebellion….

Oil Spill

Transocean,halliburton and a.n.others were all American companies.On the rig regardless of any orders if there is a “dangerous” situation then the superintendant of the rig makes the decisions,and he was American,so it comes down to safety versus profits,guess what wins.I have worked (short time only!)on a Production platform operating at 120% capacity and there were three crash stops in three weeks,so happy to get on that helicopter!!Bill Gates has shares in BP!!

Whatever the complexities of the situation it is quite clear that Obama is trying to cover his own back and recover some of his low poll ratings. As for Gore the Bore – is he still a major shareholder in Occidental?

On the radio I heard a soundbite from former talk show host/actress/comedian Rosie O’Donnell who now has a left-wing radio show.
She was calling for the immediate seizure of all BP assets in the U.S. to pay for the clean-up and as a punative measure.

Now, even with a liberal pro-green administartion, that’s not going to happen.
The Constitution is still in effect (at least as I type this:D)…but it shows what many liberals are thinking.

It’s also been noted Al Gore hasn’t said anything yet…
some are thinking he may run against Obama on a green platform in 2012…or just threaten to and wait for a payoff from democratic donors for not running.
But then again, this could just be a conservative wish… 🙂 A variation of how Clinton beat George H. W. Bush in 1992 when Ross Perot split the conservative vote.

It’s also said that BP and its affiliates donated (I’ve heard $2 million but don’t know for sure) money to Obama and various democrats (and their PAC funds) in 2008.

If this had happened during the Bush administration…that campaign contribution would be a huge news story.
Not this time.

Suits Obama to forget it was actually the American company sub-contracted to BP to run the rig that caused the whole thing by cutting corners on installing safety gear…

But that company says it did that on orders from its customer…BP which owned the well. Everybody is finger pointing.
And Obama sending his Attorney General down there…who says he wants criminal prosecutions on this matter isn’t really helping things.
Many feel that sums up Obama and the Democrats…don’t fix it…sue. Sue first and ask questions later.

Actually no I wasn’t – but its been bugging me for a couple of days and felt it needed an airing. Someone should remind bl***dy Obama about Piper Alpha. I spent a great deal of time in Aberdeen at the time of the explosion and don’t recall any vilification of Occiedental’s US owenership at the time. And the insurance payout ran into billions.

Guess you were listening to radio 2 as well RH! Suits Obama to forget it was actually the American company sub-contracted to BP to run the rig that caused the whole thing by cutting corners on installing safety gear…

Obama has found just what he needed to try to boost his flagging ratings at home and to cover up his less than energetic response to the crisis. He cannot afford to be tarred with the Bush-response-to-catastrophe brush.

Too late. He is galvanizing his opposition. Frankly, he should back waaay off and let the courts sort this deal out.

Ryan

Totally agree, Respond with half truths.