FWIW, I've got no sympathy what so ever for BP. This is a dangerous and costly exercise tapping oil but the profits far outweigh the costs.
That they didn't have a system in place to overide the human element has now cost lives of people and livelyhoods of many, let alone the costs to the environment.
As far as BP goes though, nothing hurts more to a company than lost profits and who knows what the final bill will be.
At least other oil companies may now start re-evaluating their Operational Procedures to ensure this won't happen again. To be honest, it was always going to happen somewhere cos it's happened before but now those who give the final stamp of approval may now just be a little bit more careful.
For instance, over our way the oil companies have wanted to explore and possibly drill near "the great barrier reef". I somehow don't think they would be that dumb to even look at it now.
The costs are just way too high.
