Full Text: BP Press Release on $20 Billion Gulf Escrow Fund and Dividend Suspension
Source: BP
Release date: 16 June 2010
Following a meeting with the President of the United States, the BP Board announces an agreed package of measures to meet its obligations as a responsible party arising from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Agreement was reached to create a $20bn claims fund over the next three and a half years on the following basis:
BP will initially make payments of $3bn in Q3 of 2010 and $2bn in Q4 of 2010. These will be followed by a payment of $1.25bn per quarter until a total of $20bn has been paid in.
While the fund is building, BP’s commitments will be assured by the setting aside of U.S. assets with a value of $20bn. The intention is that this level of assets will decline as cash contributions are made to the fund.
Not Quite the ‘Apollo Program’ for the Energy Future
The first half of President Barack Obama’s first Oval Office address was as it should have been: holding BP accountable for the devastation to our Gulf Coast and outlining in broad terms what the government is going to do to ensure people and the environment are made whole.
The second half of the speech was unnecessary at the moment and came across as political opportunism.
I don’t doubt for one second that Obama believes it when he says this country is addicted to oil and that energy independence and a clean energy future are strategically – perhaps existentially – critical goals for the United States.
I don’t think tonight was the time because now is the time for the nation to be laser-focused on our neighbors’ travails on the Gulf Coast. Everyone knows that the Obama Administration’s commitment to clean energy and a green economy is only rivaled by its commitment to health care reform. It wasn’t necessary tonight to take the focus off of the immediate task, even for the eight minutes or so the president discussed national energy policy. And, that energy policy is a politically divisive topic as it is currently framed. Evil, multi-national oil companies and terrorists on one side vs. Smart Car drivin’, Birkenstock wearin’ idealists on the other. It’s just not fair to the people of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi to have to share their moment with the Cap and Trade debate.
Finally, this:
Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny.
I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for a president of the United States of America to utter words to that effect regarding energy policy in this country. Tonight, though, they rang hollow. I’m watching this live feed of black and brown shit jetting, pouring into the Gulf of Mexico at the revised-again rate of 65-100 thousand barrels per day. Anderson Cooper is on TV with not just oil-slicked birds, but the eggs of brown pelicans – recently stepped on by “BP cleanup workers.” Keith Olbermann actually screamed “Goddammit” last night on Countdown. (That was actually about something else.) One crisis at a time, please!
Video: President Obama Oval Office Speech on BP Oil Spill & Gulf Cleanup
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Transcript: Obama Oval Office Speech on Gulf Oil Spill
Source: White House Press Office
Good evening. As we speak, our nation faces a multitude of challenges. At home, our top priority is to recover and rebuild from a recession that has touched the lives of nearly every American. Abroad, our brave men and women in uniform are taking the fight to al Qaeda wherever it exists. And tonight, I’ve returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we’re waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens.
Nice: And now for the BP Fire …
Siphoning of the oil from the BP oil spill was suspended for at least a time today when there was a fire on the derrick of the ship collecting the black gold. See story at MarketWatch.
My A.M. News Break – June 15
BP Covering Up Wildlife Deaths Due to Spill?
from Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Finance, Markets, Economy
- Markets Pricing in ‘Paradigm Change’ – El-Arian – CNBC
- Best Buy profits don’t meet target - CNBC
- Data and BP top market agenda - MarketWatch
Other Stuff
- Efforts to control gulf spill described as ‘chaotic’ - New York Times
- Setbacks cloud U.S. plan to exit Afghanistan – New York Times
- Banks Yielding on Volcker, Picking Other Fights – New York Times
- Kasich’s tax returns flip flop - Columbus Dispatch
- Editorial: Your tax dollars at work - Columbus Dispatch
- U.S. man arrested in Pakistan for Hunting bin-Laden – Agence France Presse
- More Alvin Greene - Washington Post
Daily Graphic: BP Oil Spill Tracker from NYT
Click the map to go to the New York Times site and use the oil spill tracker.
As usual, the New York Times’ interactive maps rule. You can visit the Times’ oil spill tracking map here. Check out the “play” feature at the upper left portion of the map to see the oil spill grow and move over time.
There are also tabs at the top of the map to change the data shown. For instance, you can see a plot of the effects of the spill on wildlife.
Ohio Sunday Papers Roundup – June 13
Ohio Politics
- Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Pandering in Ohio is a Two Party Business – The Plain Dealer
- Editorial: What Price are Cafaros Paying? – The Vindicator
- Kasich and His ‘Bible Guys’ – Columbus Dispatch
- Op-Ed, Brent Larkin: Close Races Brewing in Ohio – The Plain Dealer
- Editorial: Ohio Senate Vacation Extends Foreclosure Follies – The Plain Dealer
- NRA Working Ohio Legislature – Columbus Dispatch
- ODOT Looks for Future Funding of Rest Areas – The Plain Dealer
- Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Redistricting Reform Falls Prey to Dreams of Power – Columbus Dispatch
- Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Election Surprises Loom in November – Columbus Dispatch
- Editorial: Dollar by Dollar – Akron Beacon Journal
- Editorial: Dollar by Dollar (Part II) – Akron Beacon Journal
- Editorial: Ohio Late but on Right Testing Track – Dayton Daily News
- Tobacco Lobbyist Biggest Boehner Donor – Columbus Dispatch
- Kilroy on FinReg Conference Committee – Columbus Dispatch
- Brown, Voinovich Work to Fund Nuclear Cleanup – Columbus Dispatch
Selected News
- Increasing Number of Mahoning Valley Families Face Foreclosure – The Vindicator
- Sex Offender Registration Force Some Underground – The Plain Dealer
- Do Sex-Offender Laws Make Us Safer? – The Plain Dealer
- 17.5% of Ohioans Underemployed – Dayton Daily News
- Dayton-Cincy Corridor Important to U.S. Exports – Dayton Daily News
- Commercial Properties Selling at Deep Discounts – Dayton Daily News
- Op-Ed, Michael Douglas: An Energy Revolution for the Great Lakes – Akron Beacon Journal
The Daily Graphic: Which Company More Able to Pay? $200 Billion BP or $100 Billion BP?
It’s totally reasonable and inevitable that the share price of BP would suffer mercilessly from the company’s gargantuan liability in the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier this week I created the following chart of BP’s daily closing share price for it’s U.S.-listed shares.
When Interior Secretary Ken Salazar opined publicly that the company ought to be responsible for all unemployment claims related to the federal government’s six month moratorium on offshore Gulf drilling, BP’s stock took an especially nasty dive to a 14-year low on Wednesday. I hope that the Obama Administration’s efforts to turn public opinion back in the president’s favor on this mess don’t backfire and kill what this country needs to be the proverbial “Golden Goose” for the next several years. A heavily-regulated and monitored BP – in a strong financial position – is the company that will be able to afford the tens of billions of dollars needed to make the people and environment of the Gulf Coast whole.
We Know Transparency When We See It – And When We Don’t
Michael Isikoff writes in Newsweek about an Obama Administration stance on revealing which bigwig execs visit the White House on business. The problem is that Obama’s lack of transparency in responding to a FOIA request regarding coal company executives resembles the stonewalling secrecy of the Bush Administration’s handling of similar requests.
As an Obama supporter and Obama voter I am equally elated and dismayed. In the case of energy policy, I’m elated we have a President who seems to be finally making the connection between our dependence on oil – foreign and otherwise – and environmental and national security issues. I’m dismayed by Obama’s refusal to honor public interest groups’ requests to know what coal companies are lobbying the White House on “clean coal” initiatives. The jury is out on the feasibility of clean coal technology and its practicality. As an Ohioan I want to support the coal industry. As an American concerned about pollution, greenhouse gases and the affordability of electricity I want to know more about where the federal government intends to invest clean coal funding and what to expect as a return on investment. As a cynic, I want to know what big spenders – be they coal companies or the Sierra Club – are attempting to game the political system.
Daily Graphic: Oil Well On Way to Climbing Back to $100
Go check out this story at the Financial Times … energy market may conspire to stop recovery …
Goldman Sachs Oil Forecast – $90 by 2010
Just a few days after OPEC projected oil at $90 per barrel in the first quarter of 2010, Goldman Sachs today is saying essentially the same thing:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its forecast for U.S. benchmark oil by 31 percent to $85 a barrel for the end of 2009 and predicted further gains next year as demand recovers and supplies shrink.
“As the financial crisis eases, an energy shortage lies ahead,” Goldman analysts Jeffrey Currie in London and David Greely in New York said in a report e-mailed today. The bank set a 12-month price target of $90 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate crude, up from $70, and introduced a forecast of $95 for the end of 2010.
Read the Rest of the Story at Bloomberg
OPEC Leader: Oil back to $80-90 bbl by early 2010
This isn’t surprising. OPEC producers scaled back production some time ago in the face of a supply glut brought on by the worldwide recession. OPEC’ers are basically saying, we don’t produce more until we make up for the ridiculously cheap prices over the last year or so.
From Reuters:
Oil prices could reach $80-$90 a barrel by early next year, but OPEC will not increase its output until a huge amount of over-supply has been absorbed, the group’s Secretary General said on Tuesday.
OPEC officials have been nudging up their price aspirations since Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said last week an oil price of around $75 could be achieved later this year and would not undermine a tentative global economic recovery.
“The price will go to $80-$90 maybe at the beginning of 2010,” OPEC’s Abdullah al-Badri told the Reuters Global Energy Summit.
Daily Graphic: U.S. Imported Oil Weighs on Economy
Over at the Pickens Plan they continue to release numbers every month regarding how much oil we import into the U.S. Go check out their Oil Imports page.
Full Text – Obama On Auto Fuel Efficiency and Emissions Plan
(Source: White House Press Office)
12:22 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat — have a seat. What an extraordinary day. The sun is out because good things are happening. Before I get started, just some preliminary introductions — I’ll probably repeat them in my formal remarks, but I want to make sure that I acknowledge some people who have been critical to this effort and critical to so many efforts at the state and federal levels.
Could a Honda Product Really Be “Biblically Terrible?”
If The Insight is as Bad as Reviewer Says, It Might Say Something About Automakers Rushing ‘Affordable’ Hybrids to Market
A review for the 2010 Honda Insight by the Times of London caught my attention with passages like this:
So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.
And this:
And the sound is worse. The Honda’s petrol engine is a much-shaved, built-for-economy, low-friction 1.3 that, at full chat, makes a noise worse than someone else’s crying baby on an airliner. It’s worse than the sound of your parachute failing to open. Really, to get an idea of how awful it is, you’d have to sit a dog on a ham slicer.
So you’re sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you’re doing only 23mph because that’s about the top speed, and you’re thinking things can’t get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of grit.
Now, I’ve got to tell you – I’m a Honda fan from a Honda family. My own last three cars have been Honda CRVs, two of them were purchased new. My first car was a 1976 Honda Civic – a true rice burner. Hondas are just great cars for a lot of reasons including operating cost, fuel economy, design and resale value.
Not only have I never driven a Honda I didn’t like, I’ve never read anything especially bad about the cars or the company. Then I read this review.
Here’s what I think. In the rush to go green and get the costs of hybrids down, Honda must have cut some corners on the Insight. Are the majority of consumers of clamoring for hybrids? I don’t think so, but I could be persuaded if there’s good data on that. I do believe that Western governments are applying pressure to automakers to get their fleets more environmentally friendly. This is a good thing, but does it have to mean hybrids for everyone immediately?
Some data I have been privy to regards the state of Ohio fleet manager’s decision on choosing a default state vehicle. The state of Ohio found that on all measures including sticker price, the Ford Focus was the most economical choice for state employees who are permanently assigned vehicles. At 30 MPG or so, even their carbon footprint was smaller than Honda’s older model Insight.
This brings about some other public policy issues. Most objectively informed people understand that we must curtail carbon emissions and that oil will only grow increasingly scarce and expensive over time. Government policies affecting the auto industry or consumer choice in cars – such as tax breaks – should perhaps provide incentives to radically move the bar up on CAFE standards.
The world’s auto industry is too important to the overall economy to have great companies like Honda rushing products that aren’t ready. The unintended consequences could be detrimental to brands or worse, turn consumers off to hybrid vehicles.
I don’t doubt that someday there will be affordable hybrids or electric vehicles which provide utility and are a pleasure to drive. For now, maybe we should bridge the gap to that future by perfecting what we know so much about – the internal combustion engine.
Video – Obama Weekly Address – Health Care & Energy
Transcript – Obama Weekly Address – Health Care and Energy
(Source: White House Press Office)
Good morning. Over the past few months, as we have put in place a plan to speed our economic recovery, I have spoken repeatedly of the need to lay a new foundation for lasting prosperity; a foundation that will support good jobs and rising incomes; a foundation for economic growth where we no longer rely on excessive debt and reckless risk – but instead on skilled workers and sound investments to lead the world in the industries of the 21st century.
Two pillars of this new foundation are clean energy and health care. And while there remains a great deal of difficult work ahead, I am heartened by what we have seen these past few days: a willingness of those with different points of view and disparate interests to come together around common goals – to embrace a shared sense of responsibility and make historic progress.
