After damaging its US reputation in 2005 when its Texas oil refinery exploded, killing 15 Americans, BP worked hard to rebuild its reputation. In February 2010 it enjoyed a publicity coup in the USA by announcing a multimillion-dollar sponsorship of the US Olympic team. The press release was notable for its use of the phrase ‘global energy firm’, instead of the more accurate ‘British oil company’. It showed the effort being made to rebuild BP’s US image.
On 21 April 2010 the publicity strategy was blown away. An explosion on a BP exploration rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 people and injured many others. At first BP said there was little chance of an oil spill, but soon 200,000 gallons of oil were leaking every day. It turned out to be the world’s biggest ever oil spill. When media criticism began, BP blamed the oil rig operating company Transocean. This went down badly, as it implied that BP was trying to evade responsibility. It had outsourced the drilling job to Transocean, but was still legally and morally responsible.
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