The Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 22

[Jokerman]

I thought you'd get the Rand Paul reference of all people.

Why, am I a Rand Paul groupie? Now, Paul Rand, that's a different story.

 

[Duke]

They already have the bad publicity, now they can have bad publicity and no oil, or bad publicity and the oil through relief wells in August. They are going with the latter.



Like I said, they can do what the Russians have done in the past when this happened to them. Send in the military with a low yield nuke, drop it down the hole and detonate it underground melting the rock and sealing it from the inside. So... It looks like they DO have the necessary equipment AND know how for this.

Easy to say. It's very possible that the nuke thing is not a realistic scenario (there are a myriad of reasons why this could be. Geological stability for one). In any case, they do seem to investigate the possibility.

 

[S O F I]

Why, am I a Rand Paul groupie? Now, Paul Rand, that's a different story.

But no, you follow current events.

At least I thought you did.

 

[Elmira]

The US Military needs to take over this and drop a small nuke into the hole to seal it from the inside. The Russians have done this several times in the past when they have had similar blow outs. BP is just slowing the process down for their own gain and Obama is at fault for letting them do it.

The reason that the U.S doesn't resort to blowing shit up with nukes in every disaster is because we have more efficient and advanced technology at our disposal. Yes, that technology may take some time, but it is a better solution to be very thorough, with all the risk factors to be considered. The capping of the well is a very time-consuming and sensitive procedure, if they force that seal on or place too much pressure they run the risk of an even greater explosion within the rig. Yet that is the operation in place right now and I'm confident BP is doing everything they can to stop the leak.

What does BP have to gain by slowing down the process? Take a look at the figures. If you look at the costs of reimbursement the company is paying off, add onto that the millions of dollars they are spending in order to manage their image, and then the dividend payments considered -- well you get a number in the billion's, and that number is only increasing daily.

I have been looking at photographs of wildlife, pelicans and even small beach crabs smothered by that oil and it is heart-breaking. Also, how awful: 11 crew members were killed in the explosion, and their lives are over-shadowed by the disaster. Their story is hardly being told at all.

 

[Elmira]

Why is Obama getting so much hate for this?

Very likely because he wasn't spending enough time on the ground, in Louisiana with the folks and local businesses effected by the spill. He's changed that up in the past few days, though. Also I believe the President has put a stop to offshore drilling for the next 6 months, at the most. For areas of the Gulf Coast offshore drilling makes up the entire livelihood of those people, so that kind of a decree has some visibly shaken and ultimately, resentful of such a decision.

 

[Duke]

BP stock went down more than a third last month.

Hey Rukas, can you come in and explain again how exactly they're profiting from this? I'm wondering if the massive loss of trust and stock is all plan of the BP master scheme to get their hands on two new oil wells, lol.

 

[Duke]

If Obama REALLY wants to do something about this he should have his people take a look at the legislature on offhsore drilling. It's quite supple. Could need toughening up.

 

[_carmi]

I'm glad I'm not in Obama's shoes.
If he takes responsibility for this matter, he will be blamed for the unsuccessful attempts to resolve this matter.
If he doesn't take responsibility for this matter, he will be blamed for not trying anything.

We all know Obama is not to blame for this crisis. BP should be blamed. However, the blame seems to be on Obama. Some are saying this crisis will define the future of Obama's presidency. Some are saying he'd be over there taking actions. What actions do you want him to take to physically fix this? There's nothing he or the USA can do. BP have the tools, the knowledge, and ultimately the responsibility to fix this.

It sucks if Obama doesn't make it to the next elections because of this. Undeserved blame.

 

[_carmi]

I'm glad I'm not in Obama's shoes.
If he takes responsibility for this matter, he will be blamed for the unsuccessful attempts to resolve this matter.
If he doesn't take responsibility for this matter, he will be blamed for not trying anything.

We all know Obama is not to blame for this crisis. BP should be blamed. However, the blame seems to be on Obama. Some are saying this crisis will define the future of Obama's presidency. Some are saying he'd be over there taking actions. What actions do you want him to take to physically fix this? There's nothing he or the USA can do. BP have the tools, the knowledge, and ultimately the responsibility to fix this.

It sucks if Obama doesn't make it to the next elections because of this. Undeserved blame.

 

[_carmi]

If Obama REALLY wants to do something about this he should have his people take a look at the legislature on offhsore drilling. It's quite supple. Could need toughening up.

but it doesn't physically fix this. and there is no short term solution to this problem.

 

[_carmi]

If Obama REALLY wants to do something about this he should have his people take a look at the legislature on offhsore drilling. It's quite supple. Could need toughening up.

but it doesn't physically fix this. and there is no short term solution to this problem.

 

[Duke]

but it doesn't physically fix this. and there is no short term solution to this problem.

No, not this. But it will prevent it from happening in the future.

 

[Duke]

Deepwater Horizon Simulator


LMAO!

 

[yak pac fatal]

Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill

By John Byrne
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 -- 10:12 am

Firm's stock sale nearly twice as large as any other institution; Represented 44 percent of total BP investment

The brokerage firm that's faced the most scrutiny from regulators in the past year over the shorting of mortgage related securities seems to have had good timing when it came to something else: the stock of British oil giant BP.

According to regulatory filings, RawStory.com has found that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010. Goldman's sales were the largest of any firm during that time. Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP's stock during the quarter.

If Goldman had sold these shares today, their investment would have lost 36 percent its value, or $96 million. The share sales represented 44 percent of Goldman's holdings -- meaning that Goldman's remaining holdings have still lost tens of millions in value.

The sale and its size itself isn't unusual for a large asset management firm. Wall Street brokerages routinely buy and sell huge blocks of shares for themselves and their clients. In light of a recent SEC lawsuit arguing that Goldman kept information about a product they sold from their clients, however, the stock sale may raise fresh concern among Goldman's critics. Goldman is also a frequent target of liberals and journalists, including Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, who famously dubbed the firm a "vampire squid."

Story continues below...
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Two calls placed to Goldman Sachs' media office in New York Wednesday morning after US markets opened were not immediately returned, though Raw Story decided to publish the story quickly after the calls since the stock sale had been already noted online.

Others also sold stock
Other asset management firms also sold huge blocks of BP stock in the first quarter -- but their sales were a fraction of Goldman's. Wachovia, which is owned by Wells Fargo, sold 2,667,419 shares; UBS, the Swiss bank, sold 2,125,566 shares.

Wachovia and UBS also sold much larger percentages of their BP stock, at 98 percently and 97 percent respectively.

Wachova parent Wells Fargo, however, bought 2.3 million shares in the quarter, largely discounting Wachovia's sales.

Those reported buying BP's stock included Wellington Management, a large asset firm, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

BP is struggling to cap a massive oil leak at one of its drill sites in the Gulf of Mexico. The firm's myriad safety violations over the years have come to light in lieu of the Gulf disaster.

BP traded on average at $56.86 in the first quarter, according to GuruFocus, a site that monitors the major trading moves of prominent investors. A list of major institutions' sales of BP stock are available at the market research website Morningstar.

It's certainly unknown as to why the firms sold their holdings. In its analysis of the company in mid-March, Morningstar, the market research site, gave the company an average rating of three out of a possible five stars.

"BP's valuation carries more uncertainty than ExxonMobil's or Shell's because the firm is less integrated, with more of its earnings coming from the [exploration and production] business than from potentially offsetting refining operations," the site's analyst wrote. "Like its peers, a sustained drop in oil and gas prices can hurt upstream earnings. Lower crude-oil feedstock costs could help refining margins, but refined product pricing lags could quickly swing refining profits to losses. BP's global business faces potential disruptions caused by political risks, particularly with its heavy exposure to Russia. Disruptions caused by environmental and operational constraints could further limit earnings potential."

The transnational oil company, like other energy giants, was hit with lower oil and gas prices in the past year after the price of oil surged in 2008.

"BP's fourth quarter marked another quarter of year-over-year production gains, with a 3% increase thanks to new field startups," Morningstar's analyst wrote in another note, after BP turned in better than expected fourth quarter results in February. "BP reported fourth-quarter replacement cost profit of $3.4 billion, up 33% from year-ago earnings of $2.6 billion, as upstream earnings growth was more than enough to offset downstream weakness. For the full year, BP's earnings of $14 billion were 45% below year-ago earnings of $26 billion, in part because of lower oil prices earlier in the year. We're encouraged by BP's sequential earnings gains as new projects and cost-cutting efforts drive upstream results."

The SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs and one of its vice presidents in April, asserting that the firm had committed fraud by misrepresenting a mortgage-investment product inherently designed to fail. The company helped a hedge fund trader create a mortgage investment that gained value as mortgage borrowers defaulted en masse.

In response, Goldman said the SEC's charges were “completely unfounded in law and fact” and averred that it would “vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation.”

The firm has also faced criticism over giant bonuses paid to staff amidst the US financial crisis. Goldman reduced the sizes of its staff bonuses this year to $16.9 billion, and said it would pay its chief executive $9 million, far less than the previous year.

Goldman also announced it would create a $500 million program to help small businesses. Critics noted that the figure represented just 3% of the bonus pool.

Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill | Raw Story

 

[Duke]

^ Lucky

 

[Chronic]

^^
Dumbass, he sold it and then caused the spill to happen. "They" needed something from the Gulf of Mexico and with the surface covered in oil their scuba divers can go about undetected.

 

[Duke]

Hush!

 

[Preach]

We should all get Hybrids

 

[Elmira]

BP buys Google, Yahoo search words:Is it to keep people from real news on Gulf oil spill disaster?

 

[Synful*Luv]

BP buys Google, Yahoo search words:Is it to keep people from real news on Gulf oil spill disaster?

Oh wow. IS that serious? You have to be kidding.