In Too Deep: BP and the Drilling Race That Took it Down

by Stanley Reed, Alison Fitzgerald

The truth behind the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history In 2005, fifteen workers were killed when BP's Texas City Refinery exploded. In 2006, corroded pipes owned by BP led to an oil spill in Alaska. Now, in 2010, eleven men drilling for BP were killed in the blowout of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. What's next? In In Too Deep: BP and the Drilling Race That Took it Down , Stanley Reed, a journalist who has covered BP for over a decade, and investigative reporter Alison Fitzgerald answer not only that question, but also examine why these disasters happen to BP so much more than other large oil companies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 20, 2010

Reviews

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book on the Deepwater Horizon/Macondo well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The book is not really an account of the disaster itself, and has almost nothing about the environmental effects; for that one needs to read something else. What this is, is an account of BP and the business practices that led to the blowout.

It contains a short history of the company, from its beginnings as Anglo-Persian Oil (the company antagonized the Iranians with its practices, and Britain and the US saved its profits by overthrowing the elected regime of Mossadegh and installing the Shah -- one of the origins of our current disastrous involvement in the region), then focuses on the period of CEO John Browne, when it bought Amoco and Atlantic Richfield to become the world's third largest oil company. It gives some information on the Texas City refinery explosion, which killed 15 people, and the pipeline leaks in Alaska (both caused by deliberate cost-cutting measures, including the decision to stop putting anti-corrosive chemicals in the pipeline although they knew that it would corrode within three to five years), which -- together with his attempt to suppress a tabloid story about his gay lover -- brought Lord Browne's era to an end. According to the book, his successor, Tony Hayward, initially pushed safety, but the campaign crashed against the cost-cutting and "corporate culture". The result was the Macondo disaster.

The authors are in no way radicals; Reed is the London bureau chief for BusinessWeekly and traveled in the same circles as the BP executives; Fitzgerald is a reporter for Bloomberg News, which published the book. They both accept without question private ownership and exploitation of oil reserves, and much of the book is a sort of admiring "business analysis" of BP's corporate strategies, with charts of stock prices and so on. They clearly have sympathy with Hayward, and lament his "PR" mistakes that cost him his job and reputation. This makes the account of the company's greedy disregard of safety all the more credible and shocking. What should make this important reading for American voters, though, is the account of the corruption and ineptness of the government regulatory agencies, which routinely waived legal safety requirements and made deals with BP despite its record (BP accounted for 97% of all the "willful violation" citations from OSHA between June 2007 and 2010).

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Too Deep by Stanley Reed and Alison Fitzgerald tells the story of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 men and caused an environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. The authors show that this was not just an unfortunate accident that befell BP. The company itself, driven by a relentless push to cut costs and a culture that celebrated risk taking, has a lot to answer for and is now suffering the consequences.

The hapless BP CEO Tony Hayward, who was forced to resign over his public relations bungles in the wake of the explosion, had only been in the job three years when this disaster struck BP. He had been attempting to bring about a change in BP’s culture that had also resulted in a previous explosion at the Texas City refinery in March 2005 in which 15 people were killed.

On the day I finished the book (21 April, 2011), I learned that BP was suing Cameron International, which provided the blowout preventer that was meant to be the last line of defence against a catastrophic gas explosion. BP is seeking damages to help pay for the tens of billions of dollars in liabilities it has incurred from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The company alleges negligence by the manufacturer helped caused the disaster. That may well be, but the negligence of BP itself seems undeniable. It learned nothing from previous disasters such as the Texas City refinery. Will it learn anything this time? As the book reveals, ExxonMobil did learn from Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, but time will tell for BP.

I would thoroughly recommend this book for anyone interested in corporate culture and risk management. It also provides a history of BP and gives a fascinating insight into the oil industry.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was required reading for one of my MBA classes..

Book is extremely detailed on BP's culture and internal organization, pressures, and management. The book spends so much time repeating the same few major points (hey, BP cut major costs while taking huge risks so of course something was bound to go wrong) that it got old. Wish they would've spent more time talking about what happened on the rig and maybe an update now would be nice to see. Did their culture change? Has their "new" management style permeated or did the old one stick around?

BP only seemed to be rewarded for taking huge risks without any accountability or persecution for their mistakes.

Good research and insight. Quick read & fitting for an ethics class! 3*

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This concentrates on the culture of risk-taking in pursuit of record profits that pervaded BP long before the oil spill. A lot of great info, but in some ways the excerpt that ran in the Washington Post magazine early this spring really captured the meat of the author's findings. Maybe it's because I read this on a Kindle, but somehow it felt a bit disjointed and repetitive to me. Nevertheless, it is an important look at the need for risk management in the petroleum industry.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the details about BP's company culture and the events on the Deepwater Horizon prior to the explosion is very chilling. Sadly, I'm not sure that I agree with the authors' hypothesis that this disaster will "take down" BP; I suspect that after the requisite period of self-flagellation, it will be back to business-as-usual for BP.

[Dhanny · Rating 4 out of 5]

It gives an interesting take on how BP and the oil spill came together. The perspective written brought a better understanding of the history behind it, the process, and what might come next for the MNC.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and lots of history and knowledge to know