Summary
AS the oil gushes out of its Deepwater Horizon site in the Gulf of Mexico, and experts attempt to compute how many billions - $10, $15, $20? - it might take to clear it up and pay compensation for the epic pollution and irreversible damage caused, BP's share price goes down the pan. So much so that business analysts are now seriously contemplating the possibility that the whole affair could ultimately destroy the company.
Even though BP is presiding over the worst oil spill in US history and offering no immediate prospect of getting a handle on its mess-up, we are meant to feel sorry for the company. The other day a woman from the Financial Times came on the Jeremy Vine Show exhorting us to rally around BP. She reminded listeners that as the biggest, most valuable UK company - or so it was before this spill - it contributes billions to the UK economy and that, as a blue chip company that figures prominently in the fund managers' portfolio, it in part pays many of our pensions. The vilification of BP that is rife in the US, she said, will hit us in the pockets. Furthermore, we all want to drive cars, don't we, and oil is a risky business so we must take the odd little spill in our stride as an unfortunate, but unavoidable, consequence of our insatiable "drill, baby, drill" appetite for oil.See the full content of this document
Extract
Bp Must Be Held Accountable for Oil Disaster
Other rally-round-the-flag, pro-BP commentators take exception to Barack Obama's determination to bring the company to book and make it pay up in full for the devastating pollution...
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