NFR Question to Those in The USA

[Peabody]

It would appear that it is not only BP getting a bad press because of the oil spill over there but the whole of the UK as well. Is this true? I can understand some resentment to BP.

[Logicalman]

Nope, just BP and the current administration here.

[Steve_orino]

I've gotten tired-head over this stupid situation...no offence Mr. Peabody.

Just fix the stupid thing!!!  Fix it!  How in the world do the Oil-Companies (not just BP, but the Oil Industry) not have a plan or idea or clue how to fix any given circumstance if any issue were to arise?Rant over.

In anything I have read or heard, and it's not much, BP has always taken the brunt of resentment.  It is usually mentioned that it is a UK company though and that may be where the brunt of resentment is misplaced.

[epsomraver]

They stopped being British petroleum years ago and are a multi national company, but it suits the US government to blame a foreign national. The problem was explained to me by a guy who used to be in the rig world, in that people are asking why there is no stop cock or valve they can use, the problem is, that is what the explosion blew apart, this is not just a pipe leaking.

[Lighthouse]

BP have had their fingers in plenty of risky pies over the years. Exploitation and destruction of natural resources is not beyond them. But they have a massive pocket and other Companies and Countries are only too eager to join in that exploitation so there is plenty of blame to go round. We need oil and the US needs it more than most.

The problems in New Mexico were predicted a year ago. It only takes one accident AND a whole eco system is destroyed. Our greed will eventually ruin everything. Thats what we do.

The lovely Sarah Palin said that this can be blamed on enviromentalists because they force companies to drill away from safe areas. So there you go.

[mofulham]

They stopped being British petroleum years ago and are a multi national company, but it suits the US government to blame a foreign national. The problem was explained to me by a guy who used to be in the rig world, in that people are asking why there is no stop cock or valve they can use, the problem is, that is what the explosion blew apart, this is not just a pipe leaking.

You're full of it.  The US government is being blamed over here as much as BP; I've not heard anyone blaming the UK.  

[jarv]

A female caller in to pbs (advert free radio station here) summed america up perfectly. "America has been turned from a nation of citizens into a nation of consumers which leads to people buying and using all sorts of rubbish they do not need which leads to multi nationals doing whatever they can to keep it "cheap" and fuel the fire"

At election time, the party which keeps petrol prices low will win. Americans are obsessed with petrol prices a bit like Brits obsession with the trains running on time. The thirst for cheap petrol is ridiculous as the usage of it is.

As for BP, as already said it is a multi national but the B in the name can be used to deflect the fact that American politicions were bought off to allow the drilling in the first place. Drilling which they did not have one idea regarding the safety (or lack of) implications to the region.

The BP ceo......what a creep!

[Lighthouse]

The BP ceo......what a creep

Have to agree. The sort of person that leaves an oily slick behind him without the need for drilling.

[PaulUMD]

Most Americans don't even know what BP stands for, and certainly aren't blaming the UK.  The Republicans are trying to blame the administration as well, as if Obama can swim down there and plug the hole with his finger or something.

[Peabody]

There was a report on BBC Breakfast this morning, when the correspondent in the USA stated that BP was receiving a very bad press and this was reflecting on Britain as a whole. I just wondered if this was fact and it would appear that it is'nt.

[HatterDon]

BP is draping themselves in slime, Mr. Peabody, and their smarmy CEO is making it worse. If that reflects poorly on Britain, then it's doing so over there or in Europe as a whole. No pundit that I've heard has said "bloody Brits" or the equivalent. We kind of like the Brits over here.

Contrast this with the idiocy of Liverpool's Hicks and Gillette resulting in signs like: Built by Shanks / Destroyed by Yanks, as well as the burning of the American flag outside Anfield.

[YankeeJim]

 I think we Americans are mistrustful of all big companies, especially big oil. BP is getting wacked in the media but not unjustly. The administration is doing everything in it's power to cast a bad light on BP even while they sat on their hands for 11 days and did nothing about something that is clearly a federal responsibility.

As to the Palin comment, it goes to show that even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now & then. Why in blazes are we drilling at 5000 feet when we have gigantic reserves closer in as well as on land? I think the answer is in short sighted evironmental policy. If we use oil and destroy the Niger River delta or if we can't see the rig then there is no problem. Had the BP well been in 500 feet of water the story would have been over in less then a week. As it is, this story will last for months.

[flynny]

The yanks want to slate the company shares plummet and buy them all on the cheap .safe in the knowledge the are keeping more oil for themselves in the future.And the president loves anything to distract attention from u.s soldiers going home in body bags.

[HatterDon]

The yanks want to slate the company shares plummet and buy them all on the cheap .safe in the knowledge the are keeping more oil for themselves in the future.And the president loves anything to distract attention from u.s soldiers going home in body bags.

Mr. flynny, you usually talk more crap than ALMOST everyone on here, but I can't see much wrong with your evaluation this time.

[flynny]

Thanks hatterdon i will take that as a compliment.Almost i can see im going to have to up my game.

[clintclintdeuce]

People are outraged in Florida. It is going to ruin their economy. And people know what BP is here. I would bet that their sales are already down 15-20% due to personal boycotting. This type of leak almost destroyed Exxon back in the day. I would bet that BP loses 80% of their market value by the end of this. They will have to rebrand in the USA to get through this.


No one blames the UK govt though.

[HatterDon]

People are outraged in Florida. It is going to ruin their economy. And people know what BP is here. I would bet that their sales are already down 15-20% due to personal boycotting. This type of leak almost destroyed Exxon back in the day. I would bet that BP loses 80% of their market value by the end of this. They will have to rebrand in the USA to get through this.


No one blames the UK govt though.

No, but I blame Julian Clary and Des O'Connor.

[Logicalman]

People are outraged in Florida. It is going to ruin their economy. And people know what BP is here. I would bet that their sales are already down 15-20% due to personal boycotting. This type of leak almost destroyed Exxon back in the day. I would bet that BP loses 80% of their market value by the end of this. They will have to rebrand in the USA to get through this.


No one blames the UK govt though.

No, but I blame Julian Clary and Des O'Connor.

Perhaps they should have used one of Des's jumpers for it, and got Clary to plug it himself.  :005:

The problem with any politician trying to gain points in all this is that the rig was completed in 2001, and put into service shortly afterwards, and so all the politicians have a finger in this little episode. As for Palin asking why it was placed so far out and not inshore or onshore, it smacks of some hypocrisy when you replay the videos of her, and others from both sides, singing 'drill baby drill', nobody actually mentioned where at the time. I find it distasteful that either Palin should try to make capital of this, ot Obama should look to deflect blame solely to the company, especially in light of facts being discovered that the MMS might be implicated in payoffs.

BP are just an international commercial company in a market that has unlimited wealth and profits and panders to the western democracies needs for oil.