Stanley Reed - In Too Deep: BP and the Drilling Race That Took It Down

Contents

Since 1996, Bloomberg Press has published books for financial professionals, as well as books of general interest in investing, economics, current affairs, and policy affecting investors and business people. Titles are written by well-known practitioners, BLOOMBERG NEWS reporters and columnists, and other leading authorities and journalists. Bloomberg Press books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

For a list of available titles, please visit out Web site at www.wiley.com/go/bloombergpress .

Copyright 2011 by Stanley Reed and Alison Fitzgerald. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Reed, Stanley, 1950

In too deep : BP and the drilling race that took it down / Stanley Reed, Alison Fitzgerald.

p. cm.(Bloomberg; 137)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-95090-6 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-02319-8 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-02320-4 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-02321-1 (ebk.)

1. BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill, 2010. 2. Oil wellsMexico, Gulf ofBlowouts. 3. BP (Firm) I. Fitzgerald, Alison. II. Title.

TD427.P4R39 2011

363.738'20916364dc22

2010045651

For Katherine, Katy, and Matt.

SR

For Drew, with tons of love, and Nikita, Elijah, and Forrest, the greatest kids on earth.

AF

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Job 3:2526

Cast of Characters

BP Executives

Deepwater Horizon Workers

Washington, D.C.

Others

Authors Note

Both of us will likely remember 2010 as our BP and Gulf of Mexico year. We spent months reporting on and writing about the aftermath of the April 20 explosion and subsequent oil spill. Alison Fitzgerald tracked down survivors and relatives of the victims and attended many of the hearings trying to understand what caused the fatal accident. She dug through documents, read transcripts, and spent time with lawyers and investigators who were already familiar with BP. Bloomberg dispatched Stanley Reed from London to rural Louisiana to try to make contact with BPs senior executives. He wound up having dinner with CEO Tony Hayward in a restaurant in Houma, where BP was coordinating its cleanup effort.

The two of us came to the story from very different perspectives. Reed, a Middle East and oil specialist, had been covering BP and other oil companies for more than a decade, mostly as the London bureau chief of BusinessWeek magazine. Over the years he had spent hours with BPs influential CEO, John Browne, traveling with him to Russia and dining at his home. He also knew Brownes successor, Tony Hayward, well and had even spent time with the man who was to be Haywards heir, Robert Dudley. He had been out to BPs pride and joy in the Gulf, the Thunder Horse platform, less than a year before. He had spent a day in Houston with BPs Gulf explorers, hearing them explain how they found oil in what they said was the trickiest patch of geology in the world. Fitzgerald, a Washington-based investigative reporter, hadnt had as much contact with the oil industry. She was assigned to the story so that she could bring to bear her sleuthing skills, vast range of Washington contacts, and knowledge of the regulatory and political spheres.

We were drawn to the story by shock and sorrow over the violent deaths of the Deepwater Horizon rig workers, as well as dismay over the extraordinary tide of pollution that spewed from the stricken well. We wanted to know why this tragic incident had occurred under the watch of BP and not another company such as ExxonMobil.