Price of gas to go over $4 in 5.... 4.... 3... 2...

JackieRabbit: Price of gas to go over $4 in 5.... 4.... 3... 2...

Damn, ya beat me to it.

People who made decisions that led to the disaster still filthy rich.

Remember: Kill a dozen workers due to lax safety standards, cover it up, massively pollute the environment and have the federal and state governments incur massive cleanup costs? Why, those people are Republican heroes!

Was listening to NPR this morning. They (dunno who precisely) figured it could be as high as 20B, but probably around 11B. They said BP had 3B saved up to pay already.

Not impressed. 4.5B is not enough, IMO.

My god! This could mean Carl-Henric Svanberg doesn't get a new superyacht this year!

According to the press release,

As part of the resolution, BP has agreed to plead guilty to 11 felony counts of Misconduct or Neglect of Ships Officers relating to the loss of 11 lives; one misdemeanor count under the Clean Water Act; one misdemeanor count under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; and one felony count of obstruction of Congress.
...
Under U.S. law, companies convicted of certain criminal acts can be debarred from contracting with the federal government. BP has not been advised of the intention of any federal agency to suspend or debar the company in connection with this plea agreement. BP will continue to work cooperatively with the debarment authority.

Aidan

The fine is supposed to be related to the crime. Only two misdemeanor counts relate to the oil spill itself: BP got oil in the water and on birds.

JackieRabbit

Price of gas to go over $4 in 5.... 4.... 3... 2...

Commodity markets do not work that way, only banks.

What happend to "BP will not leave the gulf until we have cleaned up every drop?"

Instead they run commercials with, "BP is committed to working to help cleanup..."

How great it is that BP will help clean up the environmental disaster that BP created!

Joe Barton wants to apologize again.

Aidan: Was listening to NPR this morning. They (dunno who precisely) figured it could be as high as 20B, but probably around 11B. They said BP had 3B saved up to pay already.

Not impressed. 4.5B is not enough, IMO.

FTFA "From the outset, we stepped up by responding to the spill, paying legitimate claims and funding restoration efforts in the Gulf. We apologize for our role in the accident, and as today's resolution with the U.S. government further reflects, we have accepted responsibility for our ctions."

and...

Those fines and settlements could total more than $40 billion if BP is found "grossly negligent" by a federal judge, LeCesne said. A federal judge in New Orleans will hear a trial to assess fault in the case in late February, he said.

"BP is facing a very daunting potential financial bill for the remainder of this case," LeCesne said.

BP has booked provisions of $38.1 billion to cover its liabilities from the incident, but the company has said the final cost remained highly uncertain. BP also recently announced that it expects to make the final payment this year to a $20 billion trust fund to cover damage from the blowout.

In March, BP announced a settlement estimated at $7.8 billion with more than 100,000 individuals and businesses for medical and economic losses.

They aren't saints but the 4.5 Billion isn't the only cheque they have to stroke by a long shot. Sounds like they are taking responsibility and paying up to me...

Obstruction of Congress? What does that entail?

If a person convicted of a felony lose the right to vote, can a corporation convicted of 11 felonies lose the right to lobby congress and donate to candidates and PACs?

There should be no more BP.

Obstruction of Congress? What does that entail?

If Tony Hayward lied to the committee, that would count.

Yeah, the 4.5B is a small amount, but that's the fine.

They HAVE paid for clean up and paid ppl for their losses due to closed fishing grounds, etc.

FTA: "From the outset, we stepped up by responding to the spill, paying legitimate claims and funding restoration efforts in the Gulf. We apologize for our role in the accident, and as today's resolution with the U.S. government further reflects, we have accepted responsibility for our ctions."

Two notes:
- "legitimate" is a terrible, relative word
- dude's so cheap he couldn't even drop $250 on an 'a' at the end.

This is just the criminal fines. i.e. penalties. This doesn't include the money that BP has to pay in terms of compensation for damage caused. So relax everybody.

netringer: What happend to "BP will not leave the gulf until we have cleaned up every drop?"

Logically speaking, and we've seen this with other spills, at some point you cause more environmental damage going after those remaining drops over just leaving them for the bacteria to eat. 

So I see it mostly as 'truth in advertising'. They're not going to get every drop. Other agencies are cleaning up on their own, the bacteria is eating tons of it a day, etc...

rdu_voyager

Actual humans convicted of felonies still have a right to speech.

As noted in the press release I quoted, a company convicted of a felony can be disbarred from federal contracts. I don't know if that's a big deal for BP. There's a lot of "too big to fail" in enforcement of contracting laws.

Good luck ever seeing a dime of that..........Exon still says FU Alaska........politicians paid off.......

oh, you still have a bit of oil left....... EVERYWHERE

ZAZ: rdu_voyager

Actual humans convicted of felonies still have a right to speech.

Actual humans convicted of felonies also generally face jail time.

If you're not hanging them by the neck for what they did, then you deserve a cock punch.
Assholes on every side of this cluster fark.
Bought and paid for.

I, for one, and glad that this has been settled and that oil companies will never again take foolish risks on safety items again!

Satanic_Hamster: Remember: Kill a dozen workers due to lax safety standards, cover it up, massively pollute the environment and have the federal and state governments incur massive cleanup costs? Why, those people are Republican heroes!

You forgot to say "job creators"

Every time a worker dies, a new person gets a job! !!!

Something tells me that if Romney won the election, this would not be happening.

Holder

Bought and Piad for.

plcow: This is just the criminal fines. i.e. penalties. This doesn't include the money that BP has to pay in terms of compensation for damage caused. So relax everybody.

People were killed.
They didn't just keel over.

You or me would be wearign a #10 can sized but hole about now, if we were in charge.

Representative of the unwashed masses: They aren't saints but the 4.5 Billion isn't the only cheque they have to stroke by a long shot. Sounds like they are taking responsibility and paying up to me...

That's true. I know they've put a lot of money into the cleanup. The thing is that these kind of fines are supposed to drastically discourage anyone from ever thinking of doing this again (I'm specifically speaking to ignoring safety regulations). That's *on top* of paying to have everything cleaned up.

star_topology: Something tells me that if Romney won the election, this would not be happening.

Except if Romney would have been elected, Obama wouldn't have vacated the office until January.

SEVERE MATH FAIL.

FTFA: Profits were $5.5B in Q3, or about $60M/day. This fine is $4.5B, so about 75 days of profit.
And this is not the end of the lawsuits over this incident, and company has booked provisions of $38.1B, or about 635 days of profit, or about 1.75 years.
So think on a personal level, if you had a fine that was 2 years of your salary.

I'm not defending the company, but no need to exaggerate like the fine is less than a tip on one of their boozy business lunches.

way too low of a fine should have been at minimum 20 billion but id have like to have seen 100 billion. A fine that big would be enough to make the opil industry sit up and take notice and do something to improve their spill avoidance procedures and equipment.

This settlement is only for the criminal charges. It does not cover the Clean Water Act penalties and Natural Resource Damage Assessment fines that will address the environmental damages of the spill.

AcneVulgaris: There should be no more BP.

There should be more DP.

FTA: Seaman's Manslaughter Act. Oh God, if that's a felony we're all going to Federal PMITA prison!

WorkingInParadise: FTA: Seaman's Manslaughter Act. Oh God, if that's a felony we're all going to Federal PMITA prison!

No, you're getting it confused with the Semen Manslather Act

Oh, wait. Seaman. Never mind...

Remove their charter to do business in USA (or the equivalent). Fu(k. Them.

sigdiamond2000: ZAZ: rdu_voyager

Actual humans convicted of felonies still have a right to speech.

Actual humans convicted of felonies also generally face jail time.

I would have loved it if Sarbanes-Oxley tied the Chairman to all company aspects, and not just the accounting numbers. You're absolutely right, if the company is convicted of a felony, the head of that company needs to bear the brunt of that outcome.

GoldDude: "So think on a personal level, if you had a fine that was 2 years of your salary."

So... about what the rest of us would pay for getting busted sharing a couple mp3s?

I'm waitin' for $7 a gallon gas.

As someone currently sitting in a BP office I'm getting a kick, etc.


/no I don't work for them

If I read that right, they've made a profit of $43B since then and their fine is 10% (roughly). They've also set aside another $20B - so after all that, they are still roughly $20B in the black. Guess the big boys will have to light their cigars with 50's instead of 100's for a few weeks 'till they get caught up.

$5B is NOT 16 days worth of profit, more like 3 months worth.

rrife: $5B is NOT 16 days worth of profit, more like 3 months worth.

Hardly the point.

rdu_voyager: If a person convicted of a felony lose the right to vote, can a corporation convicted of 11 felonies lose the right to lobby congress and donate to candidates and PACs?

There would just be 1000 loopholes to dissolve and reincorporate under a new banner to get around such restrictions.

"who cares, it's done, end of story, will probably be fine."

 

SnyderCat: I'm waitin' for $7 a gallon gas.

Gas is about $8.12 / gallon in the UK based on exchange rates. If Americans could do the math themselves, there'd be a lot less rage in regard to fuel prices.

Subby used "revenue" as most do. Revenue means no expenses, and expenses are massive. Usually you can take 95% of revenue away for expenses for a company of this size in this industry.

Net income, often called profit, makes this payment about 1 quarter worth.

Before you poo-poo that, consider that this is only ONE payment BP is making. Cost of cleanup, other lawsuits and such add another $30 billion to this number.

This means BP has paid two years worth of profits due to this disaster, not 16 days worth of profits. If you think any company just says "oh well, no big deal, lets keep going" after losing two years worth of profits, you are obviously not investor material.

I make no defense of BP, but the subby is obviously downplaying the impact of the disaster to BP for, likely, some political reason. I'm an investor and the numbers are the truth - this disaster hurt BP badly.

SheaKub: Subby used "revenue" as most do. Revenue means no expenses, and expenses are massive. Usually you can take 95% of revenue away for expenses for a company of this size in this industry.

Net income, often called profit, makes this payment about 1 quarter worth.

Before you poo-poo that, consider that this is only ONE payment BP is making. Cost of cleanup, other lawsuits and such add another $30 billion to this number.

This means BP has paid two years worth of profits due to this disaster, not 16 days worth of profits. If you think any company just says "oh well, no big deal, lets keep going" after losing two years worth of profits, you are obviously not investor material.

I make no defense of BP, but the subby is obviously downplaying the impact of the disaster to BP for, likely, some political reason. I'm an investor and the numbers are the truth - this disaster hurt BP badly.

Why don't you invest in a green company for a change? You'll sleep better at night knowing that your great grandchildren will be able to breathe.