Oily Words

BP's Tony Hayward to give speech to oil conference

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/21/bp-tony-hayward-speech-to-oil-conference

BP chief executive Tony Hayward will give a speech in London tomorrow evening. The speech is entitled “Key roles and responsibilities of international oil companies (IOCs) in an age of uncertainty”. It will cover issues such as global responsibilities, cooperation between multinational and national oil companies and investment strategies. BP has of course been in the news lately due to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to an environmental disaster. Hayward has been heavily criticized after several missteps. This week, for example, he went away to take part in a yacht race while the leak still has not been covered and the damage turned out to be far worse than expected. Security will be tight during the speech, as the place could very well be a target for demonstrations.

What an idiot! Hayward has made quite a name for himself in the past weeks. First he said in an interview that the amount of oil was small compared to the huge amount of water. Some days later he posted a message on Facebook that he ‘wanted his life back’, which is quite offensive towards the oil workers (and their family) who lost their lives in the explosion. It has earned him the deserved nickname: the BP bumbler. To me he seems like one of those typical top job managers who also delivered us the financial crisis. A money grabbing bastard who cares about his wallet more than about the environment, animals and a whole branch of economy. How utterly uncaring, when several attempts to cover up the leak have failed and the damage turns out to be much worse than expected, to go on a sailing holiday. He will probably not get away with this easily, but firing him won’t solve much of the problems. What’s more, he has probably arranged a fat bonus for himself in case he has to leave.