copied over from the "capped piper" on gulf thread on pa2
Posted on http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6734#comment-678366
I can contribute nothing to THE OIL DRUM regarding the efforts to
contain and kill this well from a technical standpoint. I am a BP
employee at the Houston office and I am not a spokesman for BP in any
sense. My responsibilities are entirely in support of BP's domestic
onshore operations and I can offer no special insights from the Houston
crisis rooms. In fact, those floors in the Houston office are restricted
to the BP employees responsible for this operation and the
representatives from partner companies, and of course, the Coast Guard
and other government employees. Occasionally, the press is permitted
some access, but it is a 24/7 operation and there is little time to
conduct tours for the merely curious.
Most BP employees are like me. We have no inside information. We receive
emails from upper management, but those are promptly leaked to the
media, and BP knows it. Our best information comes from Thad Allen's
briefings and THE OIL DRUM.
What I can report is that this disaster has had a profound impact on BP
internally. What is not really publicly understood is how BP responded
to it. From the start it was both enormous and completely inept.
A crisis center in the Houston offices already existed. It's routinely
used as tropical systems develop, exists (at least in theory) for
disasters such as this. BP spudded a relief well as fast as could
possibly be done. All the permits were secured and a rig brought into
place even as BP was still assessing the BOP and the fallen riser. That
was one of the few things that BP did which couldn't have been done
better.
Everything else was some sort of a "throw everything including the
kitchen sink" type of response. Money was not the issue. Almost from the
start BP recognized the need to keep the spill as small as possible. It
also recognized the need for a coastal presence and response. The
problem is that BP had no idea how to do any of this. BP managers and
executives were deployed to be liaisons to the county and parish
governments and to their Coast Guard counterparts. Temporary offices,
computers, equipment were all purchased immediately and cost was no
object.
The problem is that BP has no navy. It has no mobile cafeterias to feed
beach patrols. It had no claims adjusters. Everything offshore is
equipment provided by subcontractors. BP simply had no way to be the
private equivalent of FEMA, only better. And, it had NO idea how to
handle the public relations aspect of this. It assigned that duty to
Doug Suttles, who tried to do the best he could, but really couldn't
satisfy the public demand for information.
BP continues to shovel money out by the bucketload in Louisiana. Fraud
is a huge problem, as is the fact that many making claims have not paid
any income tax or even filed a tax return. If BP pays the tax cheaters
under the table, it will be engaging in illegal behavior and in further
trouble than it is now.
The situation obviously became a public relations disaster early on. BP
quickly became the villain as it became political. President Obama could
hardly have said "British Petroleum" with more sneer in his voice. Tony
Hayward had no clue that he was going to be the scapegoat no matter
what. Everything he said and did was used against him in the media. He
never had a chance.
Kent Wells has done a spectacular job in his technical updates. He may
be the one bright spot in a sea of public relations gaffes.
So what does this mean to the BP employees like me? We have been advised
in official communications to keep a low profile for our own safety.
It's not really necessary. Except for one Code Pink nonsense, it's been
pretty quiet at the BP campus. Whenever one of Obama administration,
like Janet Incompetano, wants to visit and make a photo op, a lot of
security and media show up and get it in the way, but mostly it is not a
big deal except for increased security.
But what does this mean to me and the thousands of other BP employees
not directly involved with the well or its cleanup? Nobody cares,
including BP.
Most of our managers are deployed to the cleanup. The beach patrols are a
pathetic joke. Because of rules that require that the workers only work
20 minutes per hour, and the supposed health risks of feeding them at
the beach, most of their team is spent on going to a from the assembly
point for lunch or at the start and end of the day. Some of the workers
are hookers who are making deals to do something entirely different
during the lunch break. The company is spending a fortune on protective
gear as if they are looking for plutonium, not some sandy tarballs.
BP employees know all of this. They know their company will be on the
hook for years and the prime suspect in any tarball found anywhere in
the world. Trial lawyers see a feast and litigation will be endless.
Some of the younger employees were drawn to BP because of its glossy PR
rebranding to be "Beyond Petroleum." How disillusioned are those guys
now? What kind of a future do they face at BP? A company flush with
money, or one that is continuing to settle claims for a decade? How many
new hires would chose BP over Chevron if the job offers were the same?
BP is easily the most hated company in America today. Does anyone think
Obama will allow a new drilling permit for a BP deepwater well during
the rest of his term?
BP is obviously going to sell some of its US properties to Apache very
soon. How will that affect current employees? Layoffs?
BP had a huge budget for drilling in the Gulf this year and next. What
happens to that, and where do the employees involved in that effort go?
Nobody really has the answer to these questions, but the BP employees
are talking about them. Our President is determined to kill the offshore
oil and gas industry and he will probably succeed. It's clear he's
going to use BP as his personal ATM to spend dollars selectively in the
Gulf states he is destroying with his moratorium.
BP may be destroyed as an operator in America. Many people will be happy
about that, although it's going to have negative economic
ramifications.
There are some extremely qualified and intelligent employees in BP. They
have some legitimate concerns about the future of the company. They
worry about how secure their retirement is. I suspect the headhunters
know this and I think BP is incapable of understanding it. This spill
has sucked all the energy out of the Houston office and it might not
come back for years.
Most of the people I know in the Houston office are either looking for
new jobs or strongly considering it for the first time. A brain drain is
inevitable.
I'm not seeking any sympathy for BP's employees. Despite the national
economy and the upcoming offshore catastrophe engineered by the Obama
moratorium, the job market is strong locally. It's just my opinion that
BP is likely to lose 30% or more of its experienced employees within the
next few months. It's an aspect of this disaster that hasn't been
discussed much, and it's not an insignificant consequence of this oil
disaster.
Posted on http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6734#comment-678366
I can contribute nothing to THE OIL DRUM regarding the efforts to
contain and kill this well from a technical standpoint. I am a BP
employee at the Houston office and I am not a spokesman for BP in any
sense. My responsibilities are entirely in support of BP's domestic
onshore operations and I can offer no special insights from the Houston
crisis rooms. In fact, those floors in the Houston office are restricted
to the BP employees responsible for this operation and the
representatives from partner companies, and of course, the Coast Guard
and other government employees. Occasionally, the press is permitted
some access, but it is a 24/7 operation and there is little time to
conduct tours for the merely curious.
Most BP employees are like me. We have no inside information. We receive
emails from upper management, but those are promptly leaked to the
media, and BP knows it. Our best information comes from Thad Allen's
briefings and THE OIL DRUM.
What I can report is that this disaster has had a profound impact on BP
internally. What is not really publicly understood is how BP responded
to it. From the start it was both enormous and completely inept.
A crisis center in the Houston offices already existed. It's routinely
used as tropical systems develop, exists (at least in theory) for
disasters such as this. BP spudded a relief well as fast as could
possibly be done. All the permits were secured and a rig brought into
place even as BP was still assessing the BOP and the fallen riser. That
was one of the few things that BP did which couldn't have been done
better.
Everything else was some sort of a "throw everything including the
kitchen sink" type of response. Money was not the issue. Almost from the
start BP recognized the need to keep the spill as small as possible. It
also recognized the need for a coastal presence and response. The
problem is that BP had no idea how to do any of this. BP managers and
executives were deployed to be liaisons to the county and parish
governments and to their Coast Guard counterparts. Temporary offices,
computers, equipment were all purchased immediately and cost was no
object.
The problem is that BP has no navy. It has no mobile cafeterias to feed
beach patrols. It had no claims adjusters. Everything offshore is
equipment provided by subcontractors. BP simply had no way to be the
private equivalent of FEMA, only better. And, it had NO idea how to
handle the public relations aspect of this. It assigned that duty to
Doug Suttles, who tried to do the best he could, but really couldn't
satisfy the public demand for information.
BP continues to shovel money out by the bucketload in Louisiana. Fraud
is a huge problem, as is the fact that many making claims have not paid
any income tax or even filed a tax return. If BP pays the tax cheaters
under the table, it will be engaging in illegal behavior and in further
trouble than it is now.
The situation obviously became a public relations disaster early on. BP
quickly became the villain as it became political. President Obama could
hardly have said "British Petroleum" with more sneer in his voice. Tony
Hayward had no clue that he was going to be the scapegoat no matter
what. Everything he said and did was used against him in the media. He
never had a chance.
Kent Wells has done a spectacular job in his technical updates. He may
be the one bright spot in a sea of public relations gaffes.
So what does this mean to the BP employees like me? We have been advised
in official communications to keep a low profile for our own safety.
It's not really necessary. Except for one Code Pink nonsense, it's been
pretty quiet at the BP campus. Whenever one of Obama administration,
like Janet Incompetano, wants to visit and make a photo op, a lot of
security and media show up and get it in the way, but mostly it is not a
big deal except for increased security.
But what does this mean to me and the thousands of other BP employees
not directly involved with the well or its cleanup? Nobody cares,
including BP.
Most of our managers are deployed to the cleanup. The beach patrols are a
pathetic joke. Because of rules that require that the workers only work
20 minutes per hour, and the supposed health risks of feeding them at
the beach, most of their team is spent on going to a from the assembly
point for lunch or at the start and end of the day. Some of the workers
are hookers who are making deals to do something entirely different
during the lunch break. The company is spending a fortune on protective
gear as if they are looking for plutonium, not some sandy tarballs.
BP employees know all of this. They know their company will be on the
hook for years and the prime suspect in any tarball found anywhere in
the world. Trial lawyers see a feast and litigation will be endless.
Some of the younger employees were drawn to BP because of its glossy PR
rebranding to be "Beyond Petroleum." How disillusioned are those guys
now? What kind of a future do they face at BP? A company flush with
money, or one that is continuing to settle claims for a decade? How many
new hires would chose BP over Chevron if the job offers were the same?
BP is easily the most hated company in America today. Does anyone think
Obama will allow a new drilling permit for a BP deepwater well during
the rest of his term?
BP is obviously going to sell some of its US properties to Apache very
soon. How will that affect current employees? Layoffs?
BP had a huge budget for drilling in the Gulf this year and next. What
happens to that, and where do the employees involved in that effort go?
Nobody really has the answer to these questions, but the BP employees
are talking about them. Our President is determined to kill the offshore
oil and gas industry and he will probably succeed. It's clear he's
going to use BP as his personal ATM to spend dollars selectively in the
Gulf states he is destroying with his moratorium.
BP may be destroyed as an operator in America. Many people will be happy
about that, although it's going to have negative economic
ramifications.
There are some extremely qualified and intelligent employees in BP. They
have some legitimate concerns about the future of the company. They
worry about how secure their retirement is. I suspect the headhunters
know this and I think BP is incapable of understanding it. This spill
has sucked all the energy out of the Houston office and it might not
come back for years.
Most of the people I know in the Houston office are either looking for
new jobs or strongly considering it for the first time. A brain drain is
inevitable.
I'm not seeking any sympathy for BP's employees. Despite the national
economy and the upcoming offshore catastrophe engineered by the Obama
moratorium, the job market is strong locally. It's just my opinion that
BP is likely to lose 30% or more of its experienced employees within the
next few months. It's an aspect of this disaster that hasn't been
discussed much, and it's not an insignificant consequence of this oil
disaster.
metaw this is why we have music lounges so that we can listen to some music while watching these livecams. 
