When gasoline hits $3.00 at the retail pump, everyone despises oil companies.  Sometimes the industry can’t win public favor even when individual oil companies “try harder.”  BP has been positioning itself as the “environmentally-friendly” oil giant in expensive newspaper and television advertising in the United States. 

After the acquisition of Amoco, the familiar oval of that former U.S. company disappeared from our main streets and was replaced by the new green and yellow, environmentally-cool logo and signs of BP – the new leader in sustainable energy, alternative energy and earth-friendly policies.

But – be careful how you position yourself (lesson for corporate leaders) – each BP stumble seems to magnify media reaction.  Not that the negative news coverage is not always earned or deserving.  It just seems that this venerable company that represents the legacy of some fine corporate institutions – British Petroleum, Amoco, Standard Ohio – is now frequently a public punching bag.

In recent months, for example, there’s been a lot of media coverage of BP - not all favorable.

Look what USA Today had to say on August 6, 2006:

“Even though it markets itself as environmentally conscious, oil giant BP had a troubled record in its Alaskan operations even before late Sunday's announcement that it is shutting down Prudhoe Bay production to replace corroded, leaking pipeline."

The move will take away about 8% of U.S. domestic oil production for weeks or months.

Environmentalists say that BP (BP) appears to have let its infrastructure deteriorate in what is an aging oil field, instead of investing in upgrades, such as new pipe.

BP acknowledged that the pipeline had last been tested in 1992 by a corrosion-sensing device called a ‘smart pig’ that runs inside the line. "With hindsight, that's clearly a gap in our program," said Bill Hedges, team leader of BP's corrosion management and chemicals program, at a news conference Monday August 6, 2006.

"They have a real blind spot when it comes to the North Slope," says Athan Manuel, director of lands protection for the Sierra Club, an environmental activist group.

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chastised BP in late 2006 for failing to properly clean out many of its oil pipelines. “

Other media have conducted a similar drumbeat of BP issues.

BP Response:

The Company is not shy about continuing its focus on sustainability and clean energy – and responds to critics.  BP articulates positions on a range of issues, concerns and topics – safety, alternative energy, diversity, governance, community investment, climate change, human rights, and business ethics.

 

Check out BP”s “Environment and Society” responses -- http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=4520&contentId=7014704

 

 

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