British Petroleum report said if oil spill occured, 'no significant adverse impacts' were expected

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/british_petroleum_report_said.html

British Petroleum report said if oil spill occured, 'no significant adverse impacts' were expected
By The Associated Press
May 01, 2010, 7:55AM


MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (AP) — The worst U.S. oil spill in decades reached into precious shoreline habitat along the Gulf Coast as documents emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the offshore rig that exploded.

BP suggested in a 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well that an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill — and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals — was unlikely, or virtually impossible.

Gulf oil spill fight turns to chemicals (National Geographic)The Coast Guard estimates now that at least 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers. The amount already threatens to make it the worst U.S. oil disaster since the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons off Alaska’s shores in 1989.

“The sort of occurrence that we’ve seen on the Deepwater Horizon is clearly unprecedented,” BP spokesman David Nicholas told The Associated Press on Friday. “It’s something that we have not experienced before ... a blowout at this depth.”

The plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, filed with the federal Minerals Management Service, said repeatedly that it was “unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities.”

..more..

There used to be a time when ignorance was not a defense.

:shrug:

Release date: 02 February 2010
BP today reported a sharp year-on-year increase in fourth quarter profits as it announced that its oil and gas production increased by more than four per cent in 2009 and the company continued its industry-leading 17-year run of increasing reserves.

The increase in production was well ahead of the company’s expected long-term average growth rate of 1-2 per cent and reflected the ramp-up and start-up of major new projects, including the first full year of production from the Thunder Horse field in the US Gulf of Mexico. BP’s reserve replacement ratio for the year was 129 per cent – making 2009 the seventeenth consecutive year of reserve replacement of at least 100 per cent.


The company announced that underlying replacement cost profit for the fourth quarter of 2009, before non-operating items and fair value accounting effects, was $4.4 billion – an increase of 70 per cent on the same period in 2008. Full year replacement cost profit for 2009 was $14 billion, down 45 per cent on the record full year profit of 2008, mainly reflecting the weaker market environment of lower average oil and gas prices and depressed refining margins.

Group chief executive Tony Hayward said 2009 had been a “very good” year for BP, exceeding many of the expectations he had set out for the company at the beginning of the year, despite the weak external environment. “These results provide the clearest demonstration of the progress we have made and the momentum we have established in growing our business and making it more efficient,” Hayward said.

More -- must read

http://www.bp.com/extendedgenericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7059471

I wonder how much BP paid in federal taxes in 2008.

and a good question,
"I wonder how much BP paid in federal taxes in 2008."