BP pays $48 million in damages

BP pays $48 million in damages

english.ruvr.ru

British Petroleum has paid 18,000 claims along the Gulf Coast totaling more than $48 million. Darryl Willis, the BP vice president overseeing the claims process, said on Sunday that the oil giant had received 37,000 claims so far and is prepared to pay them all.

The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20th that killed 11 people and injured 17 others, is the biggest oil spill since the Exxon Valdez disaster off the Alaska coast in 1989.

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Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 6/6/2010 by semperfortis]

I know this is a short news piece but the info in the first paragraph says a mountain full.

I wonder if BP will be able to stay in existence by the time they pay all these claims and other related expenses off?

What happens when the payments exceed their money amounts in their bank accounts or when the share holders flee and the company collapses? Who then will be in charge, or rather stuck with the mess?

It just seems to me that the law that is in place now that give the oil company the say in the clean up is now proven to be a bad idea-They can't be trusted as their concern is profit first and damage control second.

What steps are being taken to ensure BP's bank accounts are accessable?

MOD: I did a search and didn't find anything similar-if repeat-sorry. A lot of threads so...

But, the Russia press seem to get good news-early and fast

english.ruvr.ru
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 6/6/2010 by semperfortis]

reply to post by anon72


The number is just going to be soooooo high. I can't even imagine what this is going to cost them.

Kudos to British Petroleum for paying their due debt to who have suffered from their work.

Kudos to British Petroleum for compensating fishermen, tourism, and related shoreline businesses.

I give a really big E for effort.

How cool would it be to be the law firm litigating that case? Time to retire to a beach in Jamaica sipping on 100 proof rum and working on my tan.

Although, I am willing to admit that I find it to be the pinnacle of hilarity to listen to politicians attempt to discuss engineering or science (probably because I am a tech person) but when the only levity you can add to the situation is "we need to fill the hole" I am left wondering if we are talking about physics or the local whore house.

reply to post by anon72


You would be surprised to know what BP's cash reserves are, so they have the dosh to pay the damages and then some. In fact, they issue bonds like Governments and can raise cash as easily.

Also, while they might take a beating in the short term, being an Oil company they are a dead cert when it comes to investors. We're talking about a company that makes £15 Billion (before tax) a year in a recession.

In fact, you might see a short term drop on their share price only to have it rebound once this mess is sorted. Might be a good chance to purchase some knock down shares in a very profitable company.

The day you see an Oil company of this size go under is the day people don't need oil. paying a few billion out in compensation and cleanup costs is just an exceptional write off for them and will still leave them turning a profit come years end.

reply to post by stumason


Actually yes I have to agree with you. This isn't going to do them damage, they are of course an oil company and have the world in their grasp.

yeah... all i can say is that is chicken feed:
rawstory.com...
$10 BILLION promised to share holders.

reply to post by stumason


Glad to hear that the Gulf disaster is just a little write off for BP. Spoken like a true shareholder.

[edit on 6-6-2010 by manta78]

I am guessing that true claims which will paid out will total around 5-7billion which is about a qtr and a half's worth or profit for them.

I hope BP will stay vigilant and not pay out false claims to lazy opportunists, the same type of people who jump on a public bus when it gets into an accident to hope to get in on the insurance claims.

Bash BP all you want, but looking past their engineering difficulties of being failing time and again to stop the leak. I think they have been pretty well intentioned in paying for claims and stepping up to cover costs.

For example the $300mm to pay to protect the Louisiana tributaries.

I think a lot of other companies in this situation might have hid behind the lawyers and tried to drag things out as much as possible.

I'm buying BP stock.

Anybody that thinks that BP is going under for these damages is a fool. It will bounce back fine and this will all be forgotten in two years time.

There is a mandatory 75 million dollar payout that they are on the line for. They are not doing it out of love for all mankind. Once that is met look for them to shift gears and start paying more government officials to put the burden back on the tax payers.

48 million is a drop in the ocean compared to the damage done.

Link

reply to post by Digital_Reality



Situations like this I always find to be problematic because the legal system (particularly in the realm of civil litigation) is about 90 percent opportunism and 10 percent justice.

Plus, any issue that has anything to do with environmental concerns is enough to give some 1960's burnout a month worth of wet dreams. People can't think rationally when they are overcome with emotional attachments.

Originally posted by supaflyrobby
reply to post by Digital_Reality

 

Situations like this I always find to be problematic because the legal system (particularly in the realm of civil litigation) is about 90 percent opportunism and 10 percent justice.

Plus, any issue that has anything to do with environmental concerns is enough to give some 1960's burnout a month worth of wet dreams. People can't think rationally when they are overcome with emotional attachments.

I'm right there with you on the legal system and greed over justice.

You do have to admit this is not a rational situation we are dealing with. The system that should be taking care of this problem is as polluted as the Gulf Coast.

Originally posted by theuhstuf
yeah... all i can say is that is chicken feed:
rawstory.com...
$10 BILLION promised to share holders.

Nothing wrong with giving shareholders the money either. Shareholders are due their dividends, no reason at all why they shouldnt get them.

That being said, strict measures need to be put in place to prevent fraud from the areas affected by the oil disaster. Scumbags must not get paid for pretending to have damages from the event.

I haven't seen or heard anyone say anything like this, but I'm going to say it. You can't really put a price on the damage they've done. Even if they forked over all the money they've made in the history of the company, along with liquidated all their assets, that wouldn't be enough. Nothing is enough. We ought to stop putting monetary values on life and the environment. We can call a painting "priceless," why not this? This should be the end of BP and all its subsidiaries.

[edit

[edit on 7-6-2010 by manta78]

The pipe last week was cut to remove a kink or rather a bend in the pipe. It was reported that this kink removal would increase the flow of the oil spill, because as it was reported this kink was slowing the oil from flowing.

The logical conclusion ( it seems to me ) would have been to "first" try to do a simple test to try to increase this kink in the pipe, in such a way that all the oil spill may be easily and quickly stopped completely. But this simple test was never attempted. The kink was cut out, and the oil spill flow was increased.

Very large powerful and light weight hydraulic presses ( and hydraulic jacks ) as easily available that could have increased this kink in the pipe in such a manner as to completely close the pipe by compressing the pipe closed in order to make the pipe close up by flattening the pipe ( as if the pipe itself was not a pipe but a valve ). Flattening the pipe would have stopped all the oil flow from coming out of the pipe and also have kept all of the future oil spill to be contained within the closed compressed-flattened pipe. It would be easy for a hydraulic press to maintain the required pipe closure pressure on the flattened pipe for many years, or until the relief wells are completed.

reply to post by manta78


Has it? I can still see it and I am still here...

Unless I've slipped into a Fringe like alternative Dimension, but I'm sure I would have noticed...

What? $48 million for 18,000 claims? that's an average of $2,666 a claim... that's chicken feed... is the livelihood of a fisherman and his family ruined for generations worth $2,666? If they pay at that rate all 37,000 claims they'll have paid out $98.666 million... wouldn't surprise me if all their measly payout claim checks ended with the numbers...666