

Imperial Oil - rfreytag
http://www.cringely.com/2010/06/imperial-oil/

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ErrantX
I found this piece pretty disappointing and idiotically anti-British. Despite
raising some key points he devolves them into fairly pointless attacks.

I especially "love" the insinuation that BP's problems stem from being British
and therefore "plodding" and bureaucratic. I won't for one moment dispute that
they are; but this is a feature common to such large companies (the world
over). And absolutely nothing to do with the nationality.

As to his Sherwood forest example; the US engineers approach is _exactly the
sort of attitude that appears to have caused this accident_. In the world of
deep water drilling, or so I am told, you don't (or shouldn't) go outside of
rated usage no matter what the circumstances. So there is a place for all
sorts of attitudes.

Once you get past the opening paragraphs he finishes this with an extremely
important point:

 _Or is it? What about the safety wells and their drilling platforms? Are they
in better shape than the platform that exploded and sank?_

I'm a bit sad he had to dress that up with pretty anti-British rhetoric, I
think it stands on it;s own merits!

~~~
wildjim
Several developed nations have companies (etc) guilty of disasters similar to
these. e.g. Union Carbide.

------
RyanMcGreal
>(If you are a reporter, this paragraph contains the real news. Yes, I am
telling you how to do your job.)

Classic!

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Oxryly
The black swan strikes again and we all know how and why only _after_ it
happens.

Except of course this should _not_ have been a black swan to BP and
regulators.

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tjmaxal
I'm a little confused is he saying too much government intervention was the
problem or not enough?

~~~
gojomo
I think he's saying it's more complicated than that, and has to do with a
certain organizational culture with roots going back many decades.

What 'government intervention' do you make (or remove) to change a culture?

