In this field the audacity of BP has a cost

There are days like that, who begin evil at breakfast. At 7: 24 pm this morning on 21 April in London, Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, is drawn from his reading of newspapers by a call from Andy Inglis. The pattern of activity exploration-production informs him that a drilling rig is sinking off the coast of Louisiana, in the Gulf of the Mexico. A giant black tide is formed. None of the tactics of security provided to operate the self-closing valves worked.

In the head of Tony Hayward back old demons: the explosion of a refinery in Texas in 2005, leak repeatedly on a pipeline in Alaska in 2006. "But God, what have we done to deserve this", to be said before his staff, according to the "Wall Street Journal".

What did BP to deserve this Maybe nothing, but may also Group collects again the bitter fruits of an adventurer culture through its history.

Much more than "beyond petroleum", the well presumptuous slogan coined by the predecessor of Tony Hayward, the word that best encapsulates the company should be "beyond the frontiers", geographical, technological and political borders. Born just two hundred years ago in the mountains of the southwest of the Iran, the company began his adventure as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. In the 1930s, it locks its monopoly under the control of the British Crown. With the arrival of the new Iranian democracy of Mossadegh in 1951, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company is stripped of all Iranian assets. A happy coup, engineered by the CIA and the British in 1953, to end with the young democracy. The shah takes all the powers and allows the British flagship retrieve its deposits, at the cost of a place for American competitors. He transforms into BP a year later and adopts the Warrior symbol of the shield. History of protecting his adventures.

Because, very quickly, other geographic boundaries are explored as Alaska, then the North Sea. Each time, BP plays the pioneers. Hence his taste for blank or dangerous territory. Still, it was the first of five large oil majors (Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total) to engage in Russia with the oligarchs (common TNK BP subsidiary), to invite in Angola or Libya and return to Iraq. Its incursions in Alaska and then in the North Sea also gave him the appetite for technological challenges. In 2005, it installs in the Gulf of the Mexico its great production platform to exploit the Thunder Horse field, off the coast of New Orleans. In 2004, in its internal magazine, called precisely "Frontiers", the firm proclaims proudly: "Thunder Horse is at the level, and even beyond, limits of industrial experience in the offshore industry." A program. A well operated under 2,000 metres of water and by 6,000 meters depth of rock. Of the conditions of the Macondo deposit, for which the Deepwater Ocean platform worked.

Without this attitude, never the company could not break into these homes of growth are the (40 of its production) North America or Brazil, including the bulk of the new reserves are now in deep water. In the 1990s, the Gulf of the Mexico was considered to be death for the discovery of new deposits. It was enough just to multiply by ten the depths of water and rock... Today, BP produced nearly 4 million barrels per day of oil and gas or as number a world Exxon, although its turnover is still well below. This is also why, since 17 years, BP increases year after year its oil reserves. Nothing in 2008 and 2009, the British major discovered the equivalent of five years of production!

But, of course, to Baring permanently limits, it comes sometimes to take the yellow line. Explore and produce under these conditions is expensive, some 15 billion dollars per year. But the company is also under pressure from shareholders. It performance, productivity, a sufficient profitability of the invested capital. In this field, the audacity of BP has a cost. Result, the Group rotates quite violently periods of strong growth and those of austerity.

The growth was the 2000's with the very chic baron John Browne of Madingley. He spent much by buying its American competitors Amoco in 1998 then Arco and Castrol Bhurma in 2000. Pressed to save to the drift of competitiveness (and market capitalization) to his peers, he sold refineries, gas stations, petrochemical and... attempted to retrieve suppliers and maintenance. Like many adventurers, BP less taken the little exciting exercise daily maintenance, binding rules and cumbersome procedures...

In March 2005, in the Texas City refinery explosion causes the death of 15 employees and injured 180. The results of the investigation by the US authorities are shocking and show that the safety culture failed on the entire chain of Texas City to London. Trials are still ongoing. Two years later, a giant pollution is discovered along a pipeline near the deposit of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Again, the investigators found that the warnings were not taken into account, that the company has saved on the replacement of parts...

All say that, when the leaders of BP came to appear later this month before Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, the very leathery Chairmen of the Committee on energy and Commerce in the House of representatives, they were received very coldly. The suspicion is on the way they have handled the subcontractors (Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron) who worked for them on the Deepwater Horizon platform. And the strategy of the pattern of BP, Tony Hayward ("I am not guilty but I assume the liability"), has not fully satisfied.

However, Tony Hayward has worked his sentence to transform the culture of the company. Two months ago, he welcomed in the General Assembly of very good results in security, promoted to number one priority. In fact his first site, upon his arrival in 2007, was to conduct an organizational audit, conducted by consultants from bath. According to the Wall Street Journal, they returned to confess never having met any career as complicated business. They have found 10,000 "organizational interfaces", is one to ten people. The sages became BP was a tempting target for a giant OPA as oil tankers are secret.

Former field geologist, Tony Hayward has launched a vast site of simplification and reorganization, which resulted in departure of nearly 10 of the population, including a quarter of the Directors General. All entities have been subjected to strict rules of operational management while priority was clearly the exploration-production. With spectacular results, both on the technical level, with the discovery of a new giant deposit in the Gulf of Mexico, Tiber, still a record for depth, the purchase of major assets to the Brazil and, in January, an increase of production and, especially, a market capitalization that has finally surpassed that of rival Shell.

It was before the disaster, which led him to lose $ 50 billion in stock. Some believe that his image is so degraded in the United States that the company will change its name. And, more importantly, its credit policy, very important in this business, is permanently began from the new team Obama. Adventurers have hard skin, but are often difficult to know their limits.