BP Oil spill just another sign of Peak Oil

I thought I'd post some thoughts on this massive oil spill thanks to British Petroleum. The most disappointing aspect of this disaster is that it could have been prevented had corporate negligence and greed not played a role.

Systemic problems in the BP procedures and evidence of mistrust in employees:

As the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig burned around him, Chris Pleasant hesitated, waiting for approval from his superiors before activating the emergency disconnect system that was supposed to slam the oil well shut at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

["Workers describe failures on Gulf oil rig" Salon.com]
Incompetence. Reminder that BP makes about a quarter Trillion dollars per year.

Cascade of mishaps caused oil spill Chernobyl:

Then came the gas, a furious hiss from the earth. Seconds later there was a green flash, an explosion, a fireball. The muddy geyser became a blowtorch. Of the 126 people on the rig, 115 escaped the inferno, but 11 simply vanished, their bodies never recovered. Deepwater Horizon burned for two days. On April 22, the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day — founded in response to the Santa Barbara oil spill of the previous year — the rig sank to the bottom of the gulf.

Despite massive cash reserves and assets, some say BP may not last until the end of the summer thanks to cleanup fines and lawsuits.

BP - Smell of Death

This situation has now gone far beyond concerns of BP's chief executive Tony Hayward being fired, or shareholder dividend payouts being cut — it's got the real smell of death," said Dougie Youngson, oil analyst at Arbuthnot.

[CBC]

Regardless of the outcome for BP and the state of the affected ecosystems, we will continue to drill. Other oil companies will forge ahead to feed the world's dependency. Perpetual growth of our economy and the persuit of flavour of the month consumer products perpetuates this unsustainable way of life.

Gulf spill reminds America: The era of 'easy oil' is over:

Production from onshore oilfields in the U.S. has been declining since the 1970s, and near-shore production along the Gulf of Mexico peaked more than a decade ago. Many of the richest remaining conventional deposits are in places that are politically unstable, such as Iraq and Nigeria, or hostile to Western oil companies, such as Sudan, Venezuela and the Middle East.

During the past decade, Americans have curbed per capita oil consumption slightly. Overall U.S. demand is roughly the same as it was in 2000, when the population was about 7 percent smaller, according to official statistics. However, with China and India together adding more than 1.2 million cars each month, according to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, there's more global competition for oil than ever before.