WSJ – Exxon: BP oil spill “far from the industry norm”
As the environmental fallout from the BP PLC oil spill threatens to taint the entire oil industry, Exxon Mobil Corp. is giving its two cents worth. In blog form.
In a blog launched Monday, the world’s largest oil company said that the “devastating chain of events” that led to the worst offshore oil spill the U.S. has ever seen, surpassing the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989, is “far from the industry norm.”
“We all need to understand what occurred on this occasion that did not occur at the 14,000 other deepwater wells that have been successfully drilled around the world,” writes lead blogger Ken Cohen, Exxon’s vice president of public and government affairs.
Exxon’s comments come at a time when other major oil players are seeking to distance themselves from BP, in an attempt to deflect a major government crackdown on offshore oil production. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Monday, Chevron Corp., Chief Executive John Watson said that a six-month drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration on offshore drilling was unnecessary, and that Chevron had in place policies and procedures that would have prevented the disaster.
Wall Street Journal
6/14/10
Magnolia Tribune
