BP Macondo (Gulf of Mexico) Oil Spill

[kathaksung]

Goldman didn't short BP alone - they shorted the whole Gulf.

Given their long and cozy relationship with the governmental regulators and businessmen involved, with the inside info into the risks being run and the attitudes involved implied, that is explainable as simply a good bet on likely events. The problems with the deepwater drilling operations and the cavalier approach to looming disaster endemic in recent US administrations were well known to the lefty environmentalists long ago - Goldman does not have the same prejudices against these sources of information that blind so many others in the power halls, and they have their own besides.

Of course, there always are swift boat teams come out to defend their master. Like 911.

Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill

By John Byrne
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

- Firm's stock sale nearly twice as large as any other institution; Represented 44 percent of total BP investment

The brokerage firm that's faced the most scrutiny from regulators in the past year over the shorting of mortgage related securities seems to have had good timing when it came to something else: the stock of British oil giant BP.
According to regulatory filings, RawStory.com has found that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010. Goldman's sales were the largest of any firm during that time. Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP's stock during the quarter.

If Goldman had sold these shares today, their investment would have lost 36 percent its value, or $96 million. The share sales represented 44 percent of Goldman's holdings -- meaning that Goldman's remaining holdings have still lost tens of millions in value.

- http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/month-oil-spill-goldman-sachs-sold-250-million-bp-stock/

 

[iceaura]

Of course, there always are swift boat teams come out to defend their master. Like 911.

I'm defending somebody?

I'm accusing Goldman of complete awareness of the state of the drilling operations in the Gulf, and complicity in financing it, and cynical profiteering on a situation they helped create with their political efforts and close relationships in the Federal government as well as the industries involved.

They sold their stock in the major Gulf drillers as soon as the big drilling firms lost key protections in the US government, and became more liable for the consequences of screwups as well as open to more restrictive and profit-curbing oversight. That is not a great mystery, (and a couple of hundred million is not a large amount of money).

In the legal prosecutions to come, we would (in a better world) see subpoenas issued to the financial analysts involved - what they knew, and how they knew it, about what appears to have been famously lax drilling oversight in the Gulf, and what everyone involved viewed as the likely consequences.

 

[kathaksung]

I don't think Goldman Sachs targets at whole Gulf oil drill. As a matter of fact, the deep sea oil drill is still going on, not affected by the oil spill. They have some other purpose.

This is a planed operation. So some insiders had the information in advance.

Disaster capitalists: Halliburton to make money off oil spill
By Daniel Tencer
Friday, June 18th, 2010 -- 3:10 pm

Does a company that both builds oil rigs and cleans up oil spills have any motivation to prevent oil rig disasters?
That's the question some people in business and politics are asking themselves after Halliburton's purchase of an oil clean-up company 10 days before the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and launched the worst oil spill in US history.

Some observers see a conspiracy in the actions of the company once headed by Dick Cheney. Halliburton, which built the cement casing for the Deepwater Horizon's drill, announced its purchase of Houston-based oilfield services company Boots and Coots for $240 million on April 9, just 11 days before the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0618/halliburton-making-money-oil-spill/

Halliburton Snaps Up Boots & Coots - DailyFinance
Apr 12, 2010

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/halliburton-snaps-up-boots-and-coots/19435689/

 

[iceaura]

This is a planed operation. So some insiders had the information in advance.

Not just insiders - all kinds of people have been complaining about the deregulation of the drilling and playing with disaster in the Gulf.

And that very well was looking like a likely initiator.

All you need is the information - see the trouble coming, set up to profit, let it happen. No conspiracy required.

 

[kathaksung]

Not just insiders - all kinds of people have been complaining about the deregulation of the drilling and playing with disaster in the Gulf.

And that very well was looking like a likely initiator.

All you need is the information - see the trouble coming, set up to profit, let it happen. No conspiracy required.

So all kinds of people have same opinion like Goldman Sachs and Halliburton have? So did the people who shorted the airline company several days before 911? Tell me who else shorted Gulf oil spill to prove your point of view.

But from my view, only those big heads who control the big company can make money on these crisis.

BP chief Tony Hayward sold shares weeks before oil spill

The chief executive of BP sold £1.4 million of his shares in the fuel giant weeks before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused its value to collapse.
By Jon Swaine and Robert Winnett
Published: 12:10AM BST 05 Jun 2010

Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster.
Mr Hayward, whose pay package is £4 million a year, then paid off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent, which is estimated to be valued at more than £1.2 million.

There is no suggestion that he acted improperly or had prior knowledge that the company was to face the biggest setback in its history.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...yward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html

 

[iceaura]

But from my view, only those big heads who control the big company can make money on these crisis.

Only those with inside info can time things well enough to sell short with reasonable odds, true.

But that inside info is enough.

 

[nirakar]

I hate Goldman Sachs and consider them parasitic scum that sucks wealth they did not earn of of other peoples pockets and scum corrupts governments but Goldman had no foreknowledge of the BP drilling disaster. Goldman is one of the largest buyers and sellers of all corporations every day. Any large sale of BP by Goldman before the disaster was a coincidence.

The disaster was a surprise that should have been expected eventually sometime, somewhere because of the excessive penny pinching primarily by BP but also by Transocean and Halliburton and the US government's Minerals Management Service.

This spill will cost BP a fortune. All that cost cutting that got BPs junior executives big bonuses and congratulatory pats on the back has proven to be exactly what BP's technically skilled employees had been warning BP that it would be, a disaster waiting to happen. Short term thinking caused this disaster.

The immediate last stupid cost cutting act that caused the disaster was BP's decision to replace the heavy drilling mud with sea water before the cement plugs had cured on a well that had been "kicking" and showing signs of high pressure and cementing and seals failure that made the potential for blow out far higher than would warrant a hasty removal of the heavy drilling mud.

No conspiracy here unless you count the entire normal corporate and political culture as being a conspiracy.

 

[kmguru]

Some accidents that due to employees not following rules or procedure is not followed. I know several deaths. In one case, no one should be welding near a high pressure hydrogen line, yet one did and got vaporized. In another case, policies were in place for no one to clean chlorine valves with hydrocarbons. One did and 2 died. In another case, the grounding wire got corroded in a powder aluminum environment and boom. Sometimes it is just that day of neglect and explosion even if you did everything right the last 5 years.

Sometimes there is no room for error and yet NASA stuff blows up too.

 

[Giambattista]

Funny video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hE6dnwTdA

 

[Black Jack]

Funny video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hE6dnwTdA

I lol'd

That was a good one +1

 

[Giambattista]

I lol'd

That was a good one +1

Yeah. That guy had a "kick" to him, didn't he?

 

[Giambattista]

BP's Hayward out, Dudley in

With BP chief executive Tony Hayward stepping down from his role directing recovery efforts in the Gulf oil spill, questions are being raised regarding the approach and tone the company will adopt in continuing those operations.

Mr. Hayward is to be replaced by BP managing director Bob Dudley, whose arrival is at least two months ahead of schedule. The company reported in early June that Mr. Dudley would eventually take over operations once the oil leak ended. BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg made the announcement Friday to Sky News television in London.
...
...

Ever since oil started escaping from the underground well eight weeks ago, Hayward has suffered as BP’s public face. Despite acknowledging responsibility for the disaster and trying to show confidence in a storm of uncertainty, he continued to project the image of an executive who could not effectively communicate empathy.

During congressional testimony Thursday, Hayward was criticized for insisting it was “too early” to say the company had cut corners on safety.

"If there's any evidence that anybody put costs above safety, I will take action," he said, according to Reuters.

“I can't believe you said that," retorted Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Of course there’s evidence."

GREAT! Now they've replaced the "public face" to mitigate the disgrace. All is well!

This sounds like a cheap trick. Just get rid of the figurehead and your PR will improve.

*BARF!*

Oh, and here's a gem!

Anthony Sabino, an oil and gas industry attorney in New York, says Hayward’s ouster was “an important first step in renewing confidence in BP as an entity” and will help the company jump-start its stock value.

“BP has to be saved. This is different from a bailout. You need to give BP some room because if they’re not around to clean up the mess, then who the heck will?” says Mr. Sabino. “The bottom line is it’s their mess. Which means you need to allow them to make some money.”

Yeah, BP has been doing such a great job cleaning up. And spraying toxic dispersants. And fudging on payouts. But then again, BP probably doesn't want to be a welfare-enabler. Maybe that's why people of a "conservative" colour seem to be defensive of them?
Who the hell could possibly do a better job of cleaning up than BP? Anyone have any suggestions on improvements?

BP simply has to be saved!

**DOUBLE BARF**

 

[Giambattista]

So! I see we have had major improvements on the Gulf situation since this fresh new face has taken the helm.

BP's stock gone up yet? People being taken care of?

 

[kathaksung]

Only those with inside info can time things well enough to sell short with reasonable odds, true.

But that inside info is enough.

Not enough. Inside information is passive. Manipulation is active. They can create crisis to make money. I think 911 was one, so is Gulf oil spill. They have ability.

High Frequency Terrorism: How the Big Banks and Federal Reserve Maintained Their Death Grip Over the United States
Posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 1:11 am, Filed under Economy, Hot List, News, Politics & Government, War
By David DeGraw & Max Keiser, AmpedStatus Report

In a market where 70% of all trades are executed by computer algorithms via High Frequency Trading (HFT), Goldman Sachs has the power to make the market crash or rise at will. In fact, Goldman has a major Weapon of Mass Destruction in its Program Trading monopoly of the New York Stock Exchange, as Tyler Durden described on Zero Hedge:

“Goldman’s dominance of the NYSE’s Program Trading platform, where in addition to recent entrant GETCO, it has been to date an explicit monopolist of the so-called Supplementary Liquidity Provider program, a role which affords the company greater liquidity rebates for, well providing liquidity, and generating who knows what other possible front market-looking, flow-prop integration benefits. Yesterday [5/6/10], Goldman’s SLP function was non-existent. One wonders - was the Goldman SLP team in fact liquidity taking, or to put it bluntly, among the main reasons for the market collapse….
… here is the most recently disclosed NYSE program trading data….
What is notable here is that of the 1.4 billion in principal shares, or shares traded for the firm’s own account, Goldman was the top trader by a margin of over 100% compared to the second biggest program trader.

We have long claimed that Goldman is the de facto monopolist of the NYSE’s program trading platform. As such, it is certainly the case that Goldman was instrumental in either a) precipitating yesterday’s crash or b) not providing the critical liquidity which it is required to do, when the time came. There are no other options.”

http://ampedstatus.com/high-frequen...ained-their-death-grip-over-the-united-states

 

[Giambattista]

Kenneth Feinberg: Will he be fairer and faster than BP?


Kenneth Feinberg is President Obama's choice to run the $20 billion escrow fund for claims against BP in the Gulf oil spill disaster. Mr. Feinberg also ran the 9/11 victim compensation fund.

Since its disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has been writing checks – some 26,500 claims have been settled and $62 million paid. The company says it often cuts a check within days of receiving verifying information, such as a tax form.

Can Kenneth Feinberg, appointed by President Obama on Wednesday to run a $20 billion escrow fund, do the job faster – or fairer?

Even if he can’t beat BP, which has set up 31 field offices around the Gulf, some outside experts believe Mr. Feinberg might end up being broader, more comprehensive and perhaps more predictable. As the administrator for the $7 billion September 11th Victim Compensation Fund created by Congress after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he gained a reputation for both skill and compassion. And dealing with Feinberg is likely to be far faster than going to court to sue BP.

...

Feinberg’s appointment will give individuals who have been harmed by the BP disaster three options. According to the company, they can continue to submit claims directly to BP, which is using a company called ESIS to process them. They can file a claim with Feinberg who will be setting up his infrastructure, or they can file a lawsuit against the company.

However, Mr. Erichson says it’s not clear if an individual or group can get a settlement from BP or Feinberg but still sue BP.

“This is a really big question,” he says. “If a shrimper lost a lot of money and needs speedy compensation and gets it, can he still go to court and demand more?”

Plaintiffs’ attorneys will certainly be arguing they can still sue BP. Normally, they take a contingency fee which only gets paid if they win the lawsuit.

“It’s not clear if the fund will supersede the regular legal process,” says Erichson.

Now in charge of the $20 billion Gulf oil spill escrow fund, Mr. Feinberg is an expert on mediation and dispute resolution who also has served as "pay czar" overseeing executive compensation under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Do you feel ultra secure now that the guy who paid out money to the 9/11 victims is in charge?

What does that have to do with it, you ask?
http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/2010/06/zionist-kenneth-feinberg-911-cover-up.html

Kenneth Feinberg is known for wearing expensive Brioni suits, smoking Cuban cigars, and driving his black Jaguar to his home in Bethesda, Maryland, where he has avoided paying taxes thanks to a few legal loopholes he knows about. Kenneth Feinberg was the co-chair (along with his wife) of a recent Zionist event in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, two prime suspects in the Israeli terrorism of 9-11, participated. Feinberg's role in covering up the truth about 9-11 is connected to his relationship to the state of Israel. Kenneth Feinberg wasn't working pro bono on the 9-11 victims fund out of compassion for the victims of 9-11, or for America. He was doing it to serve Israel and the murderous Mossad.

Besides 9/11, other compensation 'events' that Feinberg resided over were the shootings at Virginia Tech, Hurricane Katrina, the original Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination, the Holocaust slave labor litigation, Agent Orange litigation, human radiation experiments, catastrophic nuclear accidents and was the 'Special Master' for TARP executive compensation.


It's increasingly becoming apparent that the BP 'spill' is more than an accident. Feinberg's task will be to see that there are no compensation cases brought to court that could expose any of the deep secrets of the disaster and to protect those at the top of the money pyramid.

Feinberg has a track record of success but even the best of criminal enterprises reach the limits of what they can pull off. This may be one of those times.

Sure. There's a lot of allegations there. Some of them may be spurious.

But does anyone rest easier knowing this guy is in charge of handing out money on BP and the government's behalf?

I can't find it right now, but this may a similar link: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june10/oil2_06-18.html

KENNETH FEINBERG: We have got to make the existing system that's been set up by BP much more efficient, quicker, to help people down here in the Gulf, where I am today.
...
Well, first of all, we have got to accelerate the process by which we pay emergency claims on an interim basis, just like we did in the 9/11 Fund.

We have got to get quick money out to eligible claimants much quicker, with a minimum amount of bureaucracy and corroboration. BP started to do that. I give them credit. We have got to do it quicker. And then we have got to develop over the next couple of week, not months, a claim form and a system to come up with a comprehensive amount, a certain amount, that will be paid promptly to all eligible claimants.

Call me cynical, but when I first read this, I was thinking, "We have to get as small a payment out as quick as possible, and avoid at all costs any future litigation."

Does anyone think that BP is really interested in helping people who are affected by this spill?

 

[kathaksung]

BP oil spill is a state running terrorism like 911. BP emerges from “The National Iranian Oil Company” in 1953, then was ousted from Iran in 1979. Now US wants to start war in Iran, they need the ally of the Great Britain like what they had when Bush started Iraq invasion. But the puddle - Tony Blair is not at the seat. To push Britain to join the coming Iran war, the Gulf oil spill was created to shake the foundation of the BP. If Britain wants to save BP from the financial trouble – joining the Iran war.

“

Iran Accountable for BP Oil Spill
Posted on 03. Aug, 2010 by Raja Mujtaba in Enviornment
By Mehreen Saee

In order to pay for the damages it caused to U.S. businesses and to itself, BP will likely resort to its historic strategy of how it became an oil giant in the first place. And the U.S. will once again help the corporation as we did in 1953 when a covert CIA plot overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and instated an authoritarian regime in order to acquire that country’s oil.
The coup proved to be a successful covert experiment for the U.S. when The National Iranian Oil Company was transformed into British Petroleum in 1954…..

In 1979, Iran’s Islamic Revolution ousted BP from the country and attained back its resources; but for the past few years U.S. officials have again been looking toward Iran, which still has the world’s third largest oil reserves.

http://www.opinion-maker.org/2010/08/iran-accountable-for-bp-oil-spill/

 

[Giambattista]

To push Britain to join the coming Iran war, the Gulf oil spill was created to shake the foundation of the BP. If Britain wants to save BP from the financial trouble – joining the Iran war.

It is a possibility.

 

[Giambattista]

Hello!:wave:

What am I doing here???

BP Exec Would 'Absolutely' Eat Gulf Seafood

As waters reopen for fishing in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles offered a public confidence boost for the local seafood industry saying on Sunday he would "absolutely" eat Gulf of Mexico seafood.

My mind is at ease, my fears are allayed.



Fishermen Forced to Sign Waiver

Project Gulf Impact has just released a new video of several local Gulf Fisherman speaking out against the federal government’s decision to open waters contaminated by the BP Gulf Oil spill to fishing.

While the entire video is very revealing Kindra Arnesen brings shocking new details to light that no one is talking about.

As a little background BP and the Federal Government gave Kindra Arnesen unlimited insider access to the BP Gulf Oil Spill cleanup and response operations.

Disgusted by what she saw she turned whistle blower at the Gulf Emergency Summit and exposed the shocking truth of what is really going on behind the scenes of the clean up operations.

As the government forces seafood to market Gulf fisherman are being forced to sign a waiver to make them and NOT BP liable for contaminated BP Gulf Oil Spill seafood.

...

So what’s wrong with this picture?

The Government has lied and said the oil has disappeared while military aircraft continues to spray toxic dispersants.

In fact the federal government has decided to violate its own protocols and reopen BP Gulf Oil Spill wishing waters based on “visual observation” of no oil on the surface using inadequate and skewed test results of fishing samples to justify the reopening of the waters.

Commercial fisherman James “Catfish” Miller, took fishermen Danny Ross Jr. and Mark Stewart, along with scientist Dr. Ed Cake of Gulf Environmental Associates and others out and they found the fishing grounds to be contaminated with oil and dispersants.

Similarly water samples taken by a local news station in Alabama waters reopened for fishing were also found to be highly toxic.

Gulf fisherman are warning us the shrimp they are catching is covered in oil and were told to shut up about it by Government officials after complaining about it..

Now BP is leaving town and no longer paying out of work fisherman and to help aide and abet the Government is forcing fisherman to put contaminated seafood on the market.
Meanwhile as the government declares Gulf waters are clean and the Gulf seafood is safe they are making the fisherman and not BP liable for any damages caused from any toxic seafood that makes consumers sick.

A poor appetite for gulf seafood
In Louisiana, where the fishing industry is as much a part of the state as Mardi Gras, even locals won't eat the catch.




YUMMY!

 

[Ja'far at-Tahir]

Yes, I was a member of the Terrorist SEAL task force that was assigned to this mission. It has recently been declassified so I can talk about it.

 

[Giambattista]

BP Investigation Blocked By Senate

The House version was voted against by 1 person: Ron Paul.

Why on earth?

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/tx14_paul/hr5481.shtml

Statement Opposing HR 5481

June 24, 2010
​

Madam Speaker, I oppose HR 5481, which gives subpoena power to the National Commission on the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. This is an overly broad grant of power to a presidential commission. This commission was created by Executive Order without any input from Congress and appears designed to perform oversight and policy functions that should be performed by Congress. Furthermore, this commission may be used to promote the anti-freedom and economically destructive “cap-and-trade” legislation, as well as provide justification for the administration’s policies of restricting offshore drilling.

Instead of ratifying the Executive Branch’s continued use of the deepwater disaster as an excuse to usurp more power, Congress should ensure that the Executive Brach actions do not allow British Petroleum to escape accountability for the damages caused by the spill and that any necessary policy changes are made by Congress.

He may have a point there, but I would like to see him then submit his own bill for a "proper" investigation.