British Petroleum

[Len Colby]

“The British public are very angry at the way Barack Obama has attempted to blame the British for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Obama and other American politicians have called it British Petroleum”

No he rightly blamed BP all he did was call the company by its historic name. I’ve seen no evidence he or other American politicians are trying to blame the British people can you point to any?

How can he be right to call it by his “historic” name? He called it “British Petroleum” because he was trying to shift the blame to some foreign power. His attempts to play on America’s xenophobia is despicable. So much for the “new politics”.

We saw several clips on BBC News including Nancy Pelosi using the name British Petroleum.

Shift the blame from whom? BP and perhaps Transocean are responsible. Did he even know the name changed? He now calls it BP. I think the real problem is that many Brits feel uncomfortable with one of their iconic companies being so irresponsible, incompetent and responsible for such a serious disaster and thus try to shift the blame. The real villains aren’t the execs at BP who cut corners and ignored warning signs but Obama and Pelosi for calling the company by its historic name.

“…where in fact, since it merged with Amoco (formerly Standard Oil of Indiana) in December 1998, it changed its name to BP.”

It seem to have been more of takeover than a merger. The name remained BP, the HQ remained in London, the HQ of BP America was moved to a city over 1000 miles from the HQ of Amoco the chairmen continued to be British as did most of the upper management.

The point is that its name changed when the two companies joined forces. At that point it became a multinational rather than a British company. To portray it as a British company is ridiculous. The only reason for this is that it is an attempt to shift blame from himself. This is in itself an irrational idea but I suppose he has concluded he has an irrational electorate.

You are right John and I was wrong. It is completely ridiculous to portray a corporation based in London, whose main executives including its CEO are British, whose chairmen since time immortal till last year (11 years after the “merger”) were all British, whose board is dominated by Brits as a British company after they dropped the word British from their name.

“ In fact, BP, in terms of its investors… is more an American company than a British company.”

Only 40% of the shares are held by Americans, presumably most of the rest, or close to 60 % are held by Brits.

“BP, in terms of its …employees, is more an American company than a British company.”

Perhaps true if you count the people who work the oilrigs and pump gas but the upper management and board are predominantly British. The top level American executives tend to head secondary departments like marketing and HR

My original statement is correct. I did not say anything about the different types of job they did.

Let’s not be ridiculous John by that criteria Nike and Levis are Asian companies, the people who run BP are mostly British.

"According to the European financial database Amadeus, J.P. Morgan Chase is the No. 1 holder of stock in BP. It owns 28.34% of BP. Next, at 7.99%, is Legal and General Group, a British-based financial services company with assets of more than $350 billion. Another U.S. investment firm, BlackRock Inc., owns 7.1% of BP. Other owners include the governments of Kuwait, Norway, Singapore and China.

So what percentages of the ownership are American, British and other? It is my understanding many British pension funds and small investors own shares of the company which is why the prospect of dividends being cut causes such concern in the UK.

Anyway, according to some financial experts, BP is about to be takeover by PetroChina Ltd. I am sure the US public will be happier that the Chinese will be in charge."

What MAY happen in the future is not relevant, what happened before and after April 18 is. Ironic that you complain of Obama’s supposed xenophobia then make a comment which smacks of racism, what makes you think the Chinese would have handled the situation less well than the Brits and Americans involved?

“The rig that caused the problem is owned and operated by Transocean. An American company with a terrible safety record.”

Actually it is a Swiss company with a better than average record. But if you claimed were true it would be another sign of BP’s irresponsibility because they’re the ones who hired them. BP is the company with the poor saftey record.

It might have its headquarters in Geneva but that is the only Swiss thing about the company.

The board is mostly American as are about half the execs the rest being European, Arab and Asian. It is based on the merger of American and European companies. But none this is especially relevant. The company’s safety record is mixed they had proportionately more minor incidents but a below average number of injuries.

"BP does indeed have a terrible safety record. My intention is not to defend BP. In my opinion it is a typical multinational company. "

It may be “a typical multinational company” but despite your denials BP is a British one and the problem is not just its safety record in the US but its irresponsible behavior regarding the launch of the platform. In addition to the previously cited examples BP America president Lamar McKay said in a TV interview that his company did not prepare for a blowout preventer failure because it "seemed inconceivable" that it would fail to function properly.[1] But “in 2006, regulators found, a [Transocean] blowout preventer failed, in part because of maintenance issues.” [2] MSNBC reported “Congressional investigators revealed Wednesday that a key safety system, known as the blowout preventer, had a hydraulic leak and a failed battery that probably prevented it from working as designed...BP documents and others also indicated conflicting pipe pressure tests should have warned those on the rig that poor pipe integrity may have been allowing explosive methane gas to leak into the well.” [3] There are numerous examples of BP trading off safety at the rig for cheaper/faster solutions which was so problematic a company engineer referred to it as a “nightmare well which has everyone all over the place," just 6 days before the accident.[4]

1] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/05/bp-calls-gulf-oil-wll-disaster-inconceivable.html

2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704307804575234471807539054.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

3] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37107033/ns/us_news-gulf_oil_spill

4] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_washington

“I am afraid that Obama has lost a lot of support in Britain by the way he has dealt with this crisis.”

He lost a lot of support in the US as well, he has been too laidback, Brits who are upset by him calling the company by its historic name should refocus their anger against the company whose irresponsible actions led to disastrous consequences in the Gulf and potentially serious economic setbacks in Britain. I imagine the problem is that many Brits are worried about losing dividends and equity

Maybe Obama should address the problem of Union Carbide that killed an estimated 15,000 Indians at Bhopal in 1984. Why is Obama not interested in bringing the Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, to justice? Maybe, it is because only Indians died.

Talk about trying to divert attention Bhopal happened when Obama was a teenager, IF Anderson was criminally responsible he would have face trial in India but the justice system of that country is so anemic that the managers directly responsible for the leak only got 2 years and are free pending appeal.

[Len Colby]

John,

I think our late President Franklin Roosevelt would dispute your characterization of JP Morgan as an American institution. FDR described the likes of JP Morgan as the "American Tory" faction.

Of course JP Morgan is "an American institution" and I challenge you to find a reliable source not tied to your messiah backing your assertion FDR made such a comment

[John Simkin]

I think the real problem is that many Brits feel uncomfortable with one of their iconic companies being so irresponsible, incompetent and responsible for such a serious disaster and thus try to shift the blame.

I can't imagine that any Brits feel uncomfortable about "one of their iconic companies being so irresponsible, incompetent and responsible for such a serious disaster". This is not the issue for the British. The only reason I raised the issue was that I have been so disappointed by Obama's behaviour during this crisis. I had hoped he was going to really change the way the world was led. Instead, with his comments about "kicking arse" he has returned to the mentality of George Bush.

I was also unimpressed with the way he dealt with the national health issue. It seems that Peter Lemkin was right about Obama and I find that very sad.

[Terry Mauro]

Sure the House of Morgan is an American institution. In fact all of Wall Street is uniquely American in their outlook.

Junius Spencer Morgan was born on April 14, 1813, in West Springfield, Mass. He grew up in Hartford, Conn., where his father was a prosperous merchant with diverse business interests. Morgan entered the business world as an apprentice merchant at the age of 16 before going to New York to learn banking. He then became a partner in various mercantile firms.

A trip to Europe in 1853 decisively altered Morgan's business career and life. He met George Peabody, an American in London, and was invited to become a partner in his merchant-banking firm, founded in 1852, which facilitated the flow of British capital to America.

Morgan moved to London in 1854 to take up his duties as junior partner. Peabody retired a decade later, and Morgan became director of the firm, whose name was changed to J. S. Morgan and Company. He also inherited the high standing of Peabody in England, an asset of incalculable value. That and his abilities enabled him to build the firm into the most important American banking company in Europe. Morgan himself became the most influential American banker in that part of the world.

Morgan met Andrew Carnegie in 1869 and in business dealings with him in 1873 was able to be helpful. He also headed a syndicate which lent France money in 1870 to aid in the continuation of the Franco-Prussian War after a decisive French defeat. One writer has speculated that this was "possibly the greatest single coup organized by Junius Morgan … and the whole operation was a sensation in the financial world."

Morgan, with his son as the manager, in 1879 sold in London a sizable block of the New York Central Railroad stock owned by William H. Vanderbilt. He financed Cecil Rhodes in the 1880s in his contest for control of the diamond market against Barney Barnato, who was supported by the banking family, the Rothschilds. Morgan died in Monte Carlo, where he usually wintered, on April 8, 1890. He can justifiably be regarded as the initiator of the house of Morgan, which was made so powerful and famous by his son, John Pierpont Morgan.

[Steven Gaal]

FOR SOME REASON Mr. Simkin doesnt have your correct info. sg ?????????????????

[Jack White]

http://hubpages.com/hub/British-Petroleum-Ownership-Who-Owns-BP

[John Simkin]

http://hubpages.com/hub/British-Petroleum-Ownership-Who-Owns-BP

Thank you for the link. The important sections include the following:

The below table shows ownership statistics as of 31st December 2009, as taken from the BP official website. As you can see it shows that UK ownership of BP is only marginally larger than US ownership. One large US investor could complete the swing. The simple fact is that BP Plc is NOT a British company, at least no more than it is an American company. It has effectively been Anglo-American since a 1998 merger with Amoco. Apparently BP employees some 96,000 permanent members of staff for the day-to-day operation of the business, of which 10,000 are British and 24,000 of them are American.

Benefical Owners Of BP

Percentage Shares

United Kingdom (40%)

United States (39%)

Rest of Europe (10%)

Rest of World (7%)

Miscellaneous (4%)

Another important section:

• Only 8 of the 126 people working on the Deepwater Horizon were BP employees.

• BP only held a 65% share in the well, Anadarko held 25%. Anadarko are a Texas based oil production company with 4000 employees.

• The rig itself was owned and operated by an American firm, Transocean. They have been questioned with regards to possible understaffing. On the night of the disaster there were just 18 employees on the rig, lower than any other retained record. None of these were engineers, electricians, subsea supervisors or mechanics.

• The failed 'blow out preventer' was made by another American firm - Cameron.

• The cement work carried out which was supposed to 'seal' the well was carried out by yet another American firm, Halliburton - once run by Dick Cherney.

• Before the Gulf of Mexico disaster, ExxonMobil was the worst oil-spiller in US history.

So, Americans, before being so quick to judge this not-very-British Company, consider where the liability should perhaps lay? If BP is brought down by the unwise Obama and a subservient witch hunt, consider the impact on your own pensions, your own unemployment rates, your own insurance premiums, and perhaps the accountability of your own fully American owned corporations in this unfortunate fiasco.

[Michael Hogan]

http://hubpages.com/hub/British-Petroleum-Ownership-Who-Owns-BP

Thank you for the link. The important sections include the following (excerpt):

"So, Americans, before being so quick to judge this not-very-British Company, consider where the liability should perhaps lay? If BP is brought down by the unwise Obama and a subservient witch hunt, consider the impact on your own pensions, your own unemployment rates, your own insurance premiums, and perhaps the accountability of your own fully American owned corporations in this unfortunate fiasco."

Here's an American who thinks Obama was "unwise."

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP CEO for '$20 billion shakedown'

By MELANIE MASON / The Dallas Morning News

mmason@dallasnews.com

June 17, 2010

WASHINGTON – Rep. Joe Barton , R-Arlington, apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday morning for the "political pressure"

his company is facing.

Barton condemned the White House's handling of a meeting Wednesday with BP officials, in which President Barack Obama pushed the company

to create a $20 billion escrow account for damage claims from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The congressman called the account a "slush fund."

Barton made the remarks at a House Energy and Commerce committee hearing that is ongoing. Hayward is before the committee to testify about

his company’s handling of spill.

"I am ashamed of what happened at the White House yesterday," said Barton, the top Republican on the committee. "It is a tragedy in the first

proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown – in this case a $20 billion shakedown."

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said he could "not disagree more strongly" with Barton’s statement.

"This is not a shakedown," Markey said. "This is the American government and President Obama ensuring that this company is held accountable

…In my opinion, this is the American government working at its best."

Outside the hearing room, Democrats were quick to seize on Barton’s remarks.

"At a time when everyone agrees that BP should be held accountable for every dime of the economic and environmental catastrophe they cased,

it’s disgraceful that Congressman Barton would defend BP," said Ryan Rudominer, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Heyward is testifying now, after committee members spent the morning excoriating the company's handling of the Deepwater Horizon rig and the Gulf disaster.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/061810dnnatbartonbp.b0aaffc4.html

[Steven Gaal]

http://hubpages.com/hub/British-Petroleum-Ownership-Who-Owns-BP

Thank you for the link. The important sections include the following:

The below table shows ownership statistics as of 31st December 2009, as taken from the BP official website. As you can see it shows that UK ownership of BP is only marginally larger than US ownership. One large US investor could complete the swing. The simple fact is that BP Plc is NOT a British company, at least no more than it is an American company. It has effectively been Anglo-American since a 1998 merger with Amoco. Apparently BP employees some 96,000 permanent members of staff for the day-to-day operation of the business, of which 10,000 are British and 24,000 of them are American.

Benefical Owners Of BP

Percentage Shares

United Kingdom (40%)

United States (39%)

Rest of Europe (10%)

Rest of World (7%)

Miscellaneous (4%)

Another important section:

• Only 8 of the 126 people working on the Deepwater Horizon were BP employees.

• BP only held a 65% share in the well, Anadarko held 25%. Anadarko are a Texas based oil production company with 4000 employees.

• The rig itself was owned and operated by an American firm, Transocean. They have been questioned with regards to possible understaffing. On the night of the disaster there were just 18 employees on the rig, lower than any other retained record. None of these were engineers, electricians, subsea supervisors or mechanics.

• The failed 'blow out preventer' was made by another American firm - Cameron.

• The cement work carried out which was supposed to 'seal' the well was carried out by yet another American firm, Halliburton - once run by Dick Cherney.

• Before the Gulf of Mexico disaster, ExxonMobil was the worst oil-spiller in US history.

So, Americans, before being so quick to judge this not-very-British Company, consider where the liability should perhaps lay? If BP is brought down by the unwise Obama and a subservient witch hunt, consider the impact on your own pensions, your own unemployment rates, your own insurance premiums, and perhaps the accountability of your own fully American owned corporations in this unfortunate fiasco.

++++++++++++++++++++++

British elites use USA and Canadian companies as "fronts" for their real power. Unless there is something odd going on (like a takeover/abortion funding issue) 5.5 to 6% of total voting stocks vote. You need only 3.1% of voting stock (not non-voting common stock) to control in most cases. Morgan is considered a British company by many. POINT TWO On the internet there are claims that are emails from BP to Transocean and Halliburton ordering them to do unsafe things at the rig. POINT THREE see http://www.prisonplanet.com/bp-aware-of-cracks-in-oil-well-two-months-before-explosion.html sg

&&&&&&&&&&&&&& BTW IMHO people connected with Empire Trust/DeGloyer and McNaughton/clients of Doyle Smith and Doyle/Locke & Purnell/Murchisons(many of their lawyers) and Permindex are all British elite connected and part of 11/22/63 POTUS kill. &&&&&&& Go break out your unpublished PD Scott Dallas Conspiracy and read section VII pg 17. Knowing Empire Trust is "B" you can look at the National American Bank in New Orleans and Tujague/Shert in a new way. Matter of fact re-read the whole book and think of US Life(ULTRA DEEP NARCOTICS) and Empire Trust are under "B" influence. sg (the Murchisons had dealing with the Old Suez Canal Company (when it had "B" connections) and Empire Trust and the "B" Kirby family)((your Dallas work speaks of Tommy Corcoran he is connected to BINNS and US Life) US LIFE had deep OSS connection))

Edited June 18, 2010 by Steven Gaal

[Terry Mauro]

http://hubpages.com/hub/British-Petroleum-Ownership-Who-Owns-BP

Thank you for the link. The important sections include the following:

The below table shows ownership statistics as of 31st December 2009, as taken from the BP official website. As you can see it shows that UK ownership of BP is only marginally larger than US ownership. One large US investor could complete the swing. The simple fact is that BP Plc is NOT a British company, at least no more than it is an American company. It has effectively been Anglo-American since a 1998 merger with Amoco. Apparently BP employees some 96,000 permanent members of staff for the day-to-day operation of the business, of which 10,000 are British and 24,000 of them are American.

Benefical Owners Of BP

Percentage Shares

United Kingdom (40%)

United States (39%)

Rest of Europe (10%)

Rest of World (7%)

Miscellaneous (4%)

Another important section:

Only 8 of the 126 people working on the Deepwater Horizon were BP employees.

BP only held a 65% share in the well, Anadarko held 25%. Anadarko are a Texas based oil production company with 4000 employees.

The rig itself was owned and operated by an American firm, Transocean. They have been questioned with regards to possible understaffing. On the night of the disaster there were just 18 employees on the rig, lower than any other retained record. None of these were engineers, electricians, subsea supervisors or mechanics.

The failed 'blow out preventer' was made by another American firm - Cameron.

The cement work carried out which was supposed to 'seal' the well was carried out by yet another American firm, Halliburton - once run by Dick Cherney.

Before the Gulf of Mexico disaster, ExxonMobil was the worst oil-spiller in US history.

So, Americans, before being so quick to judge this not-very-British Company, consider where the liability should perhaps lay? If BP is brought down by the unwise Obama and a subservient witch hunt, consider the impact on your own pensions, your own unemployment rates, your own insurance premiums, and perhaps the accountability of your own fully American owned corporations in this unfortunate fiasco.

++++++++++++++++++++++

British elites use USA and Canadian companies as "fronts" for their real power. Unless there is something odd going on (like a takeover/abortion funding issue) 5.5 to 6% of total voting stocks vote. You need only 3.1% of voting stock (not non-voting common stock) to control in most cases. Morgan is considered a British company by many. POINT TWO On the internet there are claims that are emails from BP to Transocean and Halliburton ordering them to do unsafe things at the rig. POINT THREE see http://www.prisonplanet.com/bp-aware-of-cracks-in-oil-well-two-months-before-explosion.html sg

&&&&&&&&&&&&&& BTW IMHO people connected with Empire Trust/DeGloyer and McNaughton/clients of Doyle Smith and Doyle/Locke & Purnell/Murchisons(many of their lawyers) and Permindex are all British elite connected and part of 11/22/63 POTUS kill. &&&&&&& Go break out your unpublished PD Scott Dallas Conspiracy and read section VII pg 17. Knowing Empire Trust is "B" you can look at the National American Bank in New Orleans and Tujague/Shert in a new way. Matter of fact re-read the whole book and think of US Life(ULTRA DEEP NARCOTICS) and Empire Trust are under "B" influence. sg (the Murchisons had dealing with the Old Suez Canal Company (when it had "B" connections) and Empire Trust and the "B" Kirby family)((your Dallas work speaks of Tommy Corcoran he is connected to BINNS and US Life) US LIFE had deep OSS connection))

Thanks Steve. JP Morgan is the most British of the Wall Street banks.

In 1984 JP Morgan issued an internal memo "Rethinking Glass Steagall" to eliminate banking regulations enacted by our anti British Free Trade President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Alana Greenspan who fathered the multi trillion dollar derivatives market(now collapsing) during his tenure as Fed Chairman was an officer with JP Morgan at the time Morgan started the drum beat to eliminate Glass Steagall.

We all know that Greenspan was knighted by the Queen for ripping up the Constitution.

QUOTE:

Charles Geisst, Professor of Finance at Manhattan College, has recounted how Greenspan undermined the Glass-Steagall Act first as a JP Morgan director and then as Chair of the Federal Reserve: When he [Greenspan] was a director of J.P. Morgan & Company in the 1980s, Morgan produced a pamphlet called "Rethinking Glass-Steagall," in 1984, which he was obviously privy to and had contributed to…The pamphlet was advocating getting rid of the Glass-Steagall Act and the separation between commercial and investment banking, so that commercial bankers particularly could begin to underwrite corporate securities again, as they hadn't done since before 1933. [19]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=JPMorgan_Chase

Watch Jeff Steinberg in this 18 minute interview titled "The Repeal of Glass Steagall.

http://www.larouchepac.com/lpactv?nid=14878

Edited June 18, 2010 by Terry Mauro

[William Kelly]

I didn't know whether to post this here or under Football or Yachting.

The Annual J. P. Morgan yacht race, ah yes.

BK

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/20/bp-chief-yachts-gulf-oil-spill-burns/

If it's any consolation to the residents of the Gulf of Mexico, BP CEO Tony Hayward didn't win the yacht race he attended this weekend. His 52-foot yacht, named "Bob," finished fourth in its class.

Nonetheless, the decision by Hayward to return to England to attend JP Morgan's annual race around the Isle of Wight is the latest "PR gaffe" by the head of the oil giant blamed for the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

"I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told ABC's "This Week."

As Hayward spent time sailing with his son during this Father's Day weekend, President Obama golfed with Vice President Joe Biden.

Emanuel didn't speak to the president's choice of down time over the weekend. But he did show his disdain for BP's head, who caused cringes last month when he said that he wished the crisis would end so he could get his life back

"To quote Tony Hayward, he's got his life back," Emanuel said in the interview airing Sunday.

Gulf residents were outraged by Hayward's decision to take the day off.

"That's the height of arrogance," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "He is the CEO of BP and he testified in Washington before congressional committee the other day. Now he's gone over to be on his yacht over in England. I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil. He ought to be down here seeing what is really going on, not in a cocoon somewhere."

But BP spokesman Robert Wine said the break is Hayward's first since the Deepwater Horizon rig that BP was leasing exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher.

"He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend. I'm sure that everyone would understand that," Wine said.

It's questionable whether Hayward's day off will change much of the clean-up effort on the ground.

Thousands of boats are on the water trying to collect the oil -- either to use or to burn. About 50 miles off Louisiana's coast, a newly expanded containment system is capturing or incinerating more than 1 million gallons of oil daily, the first time it has approached its peak capacity, according to the Coast Guard. BP hopes that by late June it will keep nearly 90 percent of the flow from the broken pipe from hitting the ocean.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told "Fox News Sunday" that not all of the 17,500 National Guard that are awaiting deployment have been put into operation. But even the Pentagon is limited in its ability to help.

"We have offered whatever capabilities we have. We don't have the kinds of equipment or particular expertise. I have authorized the mobilization of up to 17,500 National Guard troops in the four states that are -- that are most affected. We have a standing offer. If there's anything people think we can do, we absolutely will do it," Gates said.

The spill is causing 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil to contaminate the Gulf of Mexico each day. Over 62 days, that's anywhere from 2.1 million to 3.72 million gallons.

But one scientist said it would take the spill more than 700 million years for the amount of oil in the Gulf to equal the amount of water -- about 650 quadrillion gallons.

"This is not the death of the Gulf of Mexico," George Crozier, director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, told the Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register. "If you went Gulf-wide with this and stirred it up in the Gulf of Mexico, I'm not sure we could find it."

BP has also paid out $104 million to Gulf residents harmed as a result of the spill. It has also established a $20 billion fund, which Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, likened to a White House "shakedown" before retracting his comment in the face of outrage among his congressional caucus and others. Democrats have already put Barton's apology to BP into advertising for its midterm elections this fall.

[John Simkin]

I didn't know whether to post this here or under Football or Yachting.

The Annual J. P. Morgan yacht race, ah yes.

BK

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/20/bp-chief-yachts-gulf-oil-spill-burns/

If it's any consolation to the residents of the Gulf of Mexico, BP CEO Tony Hayward didn't win the yacht race he attended this weekend. His 52-foot yacht, named "Bob," finished fourth in its class.

Nonetheless, the decision by Hayward to return to England to attend JP Morgan's annual race around the Isle of Wight is the latest "PR gaffe" by the head of the oil giant blamed for the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

"I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told ABC's "This Week."

As Hayward spent time sailing with his son during this Father's Day weekend, President Obama golfed with Vice President Joe Biden.

Emanuel didn't speak to the president's choice of down time over the weekend. But he did show his disdain for BP's head, who caused cringes last month when he said that he wished the crisis would end so he could get his life back

"To quote Tony Hayward, he's got his life back," Emanuel said in the interview airing Sunday.

Gulf residents were outraged by Hayward's decision to take the day off.

"That's the height of arrogance," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "He is the CEO of BP and he testified in Washington before congressional committee the other day. Now he's gone over to be on his yacht over in England. I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil. He ought to be down here seeing what is really going on, not in a cocoon somewhere."

But BP spokesman Robert Wine said the break is Hayward's first since the Deepwater Horizon rig that BP was leasing exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher.

"He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend. I'm sure that everyone would understand that," Wine said.

It's questionable whether Hayward's day off will change much of the clean-up effort on the ground.

Thousands of boats are on the water trying to collect the oil -- either to use or to burn. About 50 miles off Louisiana's coast, a newly expanded containment system is capturing or incinerating more than 1 million gallons of oil daily, the first time it has approached its peak capacity, according to the Coast Guard. BP hopes that by late June it will keep nearly 90 percent of the flow from the broken pipe from hitting the ocean.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told "Fox News Sunday" that not all of the 17,500 National Guard that are awaiting deployment have been put into operation. But even the Pentagon is limited in its ability to help.

"We have offered whatever capabilities we have. We don't have the kinds of equipment or particular expertise. I have authorized the mobilization of up to 17,500 National Guard troops in the four states that are -- that are most affected. We have a standing offer. If there's anything people think we can do, we absolutely will do it," Gates said.

The spill is causing 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil to contaminate the Gulf of Mexico each day. Over 62 days, that's anywhere from 2.1 million to 3.72 million gallons.

But one scientist said it would take the spill more than 700 million years for the amount of oil in the Gulf to equal the amount of water -- about 650 quadrillion gallons.

"This is not the death of the Gulf of Mexico," George Crozier, director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, told the Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register. "If you went Gulf-wide with this and stirred it up in the Gulf of Mexico, I'm not sure we could find it."

BP has also paid out $104 million to Gulf residents harmed as a result of the spill. It has also established a $20 billion fund, which Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, likened to a White House "shakedown" before retracting his comment in the face of outrage among his congressional caucus and others. Democrats have already put Barton's apology to BP into advertising for its midterm elections this fall.

Tony Haywood is a disgrace. I understand the plan is for him to draw the flak while the crisis continues. As soon as the situation appears to be looking-up, Haywood will be replaced.

[Len Colby]

I think the real problem is that many Brits feel uncomfortable with one of their iconic companies being so irresponsible, incompetent and responsible for such a serious disaster and thus try to shift the blame.

I can't imagine that any Brits feel uncomfortable about "one of their iconic companies being so irresponsible, incompetent and responsible for such a serious disaster". This is not the issue for the British. s right about Obama and I find that very sad.

Then how do you explain the author of that website you quoted and you jumping through logical loops to deny that a company HQed in London whose upper management and board are British dominated and whose chairmen from its founding until a few months ago were all British is a British company?

The only reason I raised the issue was that I have been so disappointed by Obama's behaviour during this crisis. I had hoped he was going to really change the way the world was led. Instead, with his comments about "kicking arse" he has returned to the mentality of George Bush.

BP deserves to have its proverbial ass proverbially kicked. The most disappointing thing about Obama's behavior was that he was too slow in marshalling the resources of the government in response

I was also unimpressed with the way he dealt with the national health issue. It seems that Peter Lemkin was right about Obama and I find that very sad.

I don’t know what you think he should have done differently he lost a lot of political capital and barely passed the compromise proposal he pushed through

From the website:

“Apparently BP employees some 96,000 permanent members of staff for the day-to-day operation of the business, of which 10,000 are British and 24,000 of them are American.”

Though the author of the page said he got the “ownership statistics as of 31st December 2009, as taken from the BP official website” he didn’t provide a citation for the employment info. His data regarding the latter is out of date. According to its 2009 Annual Report BP HAD 96,000 employees in 2007 “as of” the same date he cited for ownership the company only employed 80,300. Most of that drop was due to turning the retail stores in to franchises 13,900 of those employeed as of the end of last year were "service station staff”, 22,800 were Americans and 57,500 were from other countries the number of workers from the UK in not indicated But whether they had more low level employees who were Americans or Brits is irrelevant. I assume in the early 50’s United Fruit had more Guatemalan workers that American ones but it was still obviously an American company.

2009 Annual Report. Page 50 http://www.bp.com/assets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/set_branch/STAGING/common_assets/downloads/pdf/BP_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2009.pdf

"The rig itself was owned and operated by an American firm, Transocean. They have been questioned with regards to possible understaffing. On the night of the disaster there were just 18 employees on the rig, lower than any other retained record. None of these were engineers, electricians, subsea supervisors or mechanics."

Actually a Swiss firm BP hired them

"The cement work carried out which was supposed to 'seal' the well was carried out by yet another American firm, Halliburton - once run by Dick Cherney."

Halliburton warned BP there were problems and recommended that the company use 3.5X more “cement-sealing devices;” than they ordered

• Before the Gulf of Mexico disaster, ExxonMobil was the worst oil-spiller in US history.

Irrelevant to who is responsible for the current disaster. The higest level Exxon employee responsible for the earlier disaster was a tanker captain. The bad decisions at BP went from engineers on the platform to it seems the CEO

Edited June 23, 2010 by Len Colby

[Len Colby]

Morgan is considered a British company by many.

What an absurdly meaningless comment (offered without any supporting evidence). Just about anything can be justified by saying it is “considered by many” to be true. Many people think eating someone else’s feces is a sexual thrill* they might well outnumber the people who believe Morgan is British especially if you don’t count the Larrouchites who blindly accept whatever their messiah tells them. Still waiting for any evidence that the company is “British”

* http://www.iamindepression.com/sexual-disorders/coprophilia.htm

[Terry Mauro]

Morgan is considered a British company by many.

What an absurdly meaningless comment (offered without any supporting evidence). Just about anything can be justified by saying it is “considered by many” to be true. Many people think eating someone else’s feces is a sexual thrill* they might well outnumber the people who believe Morgan is British especially if you don’t count the Larrouchites who blindly accept whatever their messiah tells them. Still waiting for any evidence that the company is “British”

* http://www.iamindepression.com/sexual-disorders/coprophilia.htm

Many people think eating someone else’s feces is a sexual thrill*

Like Len Colby, GG Allin and the Murder Junkies.