Public Intelligence

As BP hacked away at a pipe gushing oil at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, investors sawed off 15 percent, or $21.1 billion, of the company’s market value Tuesday. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., during a trip to the Gulf Coast, announced that the Justice Department had launched criminal and civil investigations, adding to pessimism among BP investors reeling from the failed attempt to plug the leaking well over the weekend.

BP PLC has abandoned an attempt to plug a mile-deep oil and natural-gas gusher in the Gulf of Mexico by injecting thousands of barrels of drilling fluid and will now, after three days, try a new method. “We have been unable to overcome the flow from the well,” BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Saturday in a news briefing. “We now believe it is time to move on to the next of our options,” he said, adding it wasn’t clear exactly why the procedure called a top kill failed to stem the flow of oil and gas. The decision to give up on the top-kill attempt was made late Saturday afternoon after consultation with U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

BP Congressional Presentation on Deepwater Horizon Accident Investigation, May 24, 2010.

(U//FOUO) Deepwater Horizon Situation Update from the Florida National Guard, May 19, 2010.

BP has rebuffed demands from government officials and environmentalists to use a less-toxic dispersant to break up the oil from its massive offshore spill, saying that the chemical product it is now using continues to be “the best option for subsea application.” On Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave the London-based company 72 hours to replace the dispersant Corexit 9500 or to describe in detail why other dispersants fail to meet environmental standards.

BP Gulf of Mexico Subsea Drilling “Real Time Data” Presentation, March 25, 2008.

Minerals Management Service BP Deepwater Horizon Accident Reports 2005-2008.