Run to Failure: BP and the Making of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster

The April 2010 explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and released millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico was a catastrophic accident, but no anomaly, according to ProPublica reporter Lustgarten’s investigation. Indeed, it was all too predictable given the track record and management culture of Deepwater’s operator, British Petroleum. Echoing the government’s own finding, but belying the Obama administration’s about-face with respect to Gulf drilling and the expansion of drilling in Alaska, Lustgarten’s account makes clear that the disaster emerged from a business culture driven by Wall Street and a younger management class’s obsession with shareholder profits. The deadly 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City Refinery and a 2006 Alaska spill arise amid a policy of drastic budget cutting under the leadership of John Browne and Tony Hayward. Lustgarten can be inconsistent in casting BP as a bad apple in the oil industry, while invoking a corporate ethos that makes self-policing impossible, but this often breathless account is a wakeup call, and affords a timely consideration of the nature of international business and its relationship to government. Agent: P.J. Mark, Janklow & Nesbit. (Mar.)