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Implications for Corporate Governance Examples

The BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster

  • This was the biggest-in-history 87-day 5million-barrel oil spill following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, sinking, and worker fatalities, in the Mexican Gulf in 2010. 
  • BP was convicted of 11 counts of manslaughter and other crimes related to the disaster, including lying to US Congress. 
  • Fines exceeding $4bn were continuing to increase at 2013, as were various criminal/civil damages and compensation payments exceeding $40bn. 
  • Corporate failures in the disaster itself and the aftermath were utterly catastrophic - for the local eco-system and economy, and for BP, especially in the US.