Run to Failure: BP and the Making of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster

by Abrahm Lustgarten

It was Big Oil's nightmare moment, and the dominoes began falling years before the well was drilled. Two decades ago, British Petroleum, a venerable and storied corporation, was running out of oil reserves. Along came a new CEO of vision and vast ambition, John Browne, who pulled off one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in history.

BP bought one company after another and then relentlessly fired employees and cut costs. It skipped safety procedures, pumped toxic chemicals back into the ground, and let equipment languish, even while Browne claimed a new era of environmentally sustainable business as his own. For a while the strategy worked, making BP one of the most profitable corporations in the world. Then it all began to unravel, in felony convictions for environmental crimes and in one deadly accident after another. Employees and regulators warned that BP’s problems, unfixed, were spinning out of control, that another disaster―bigger and deadlier―was inevitable. Nobody was listening.

Having reported on business and the energy industry for nearly a decade, Abrahm Lustgarten uses interviews with key executives, former government investigators, and whistle-blowers along with his exclusive access to BP’s internal documents and emails to weave a spellbinding investigative narrative of hubris and greed well before the gulf oil spill.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Business, Environment

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 2012

Reviews

[Tanja Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a shocking expose of how badly BP used to be run. I hope it’s “used to”, but I honestly struggle to believe that they have changed that much after being run so badly for so long. The company systematically down prioritized maintenance and safety, despite hazard reporting and whistle blowing. This culminated in the Deep Water Horizon blowout disaster, but this is only covered in a couple of chapters. This is a perfect handbook in how not to run a business.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fascinating and disturbing. The actual time line of the Deepwater Horizon disaster takes up only about two chapters of the book. The rest of the book covers corporate culture, safety culture, government regulations and lack thereof. High level engineering concepts are presented in a way that laypeople can understand. I recommend the book, especially to my peers in engineering. As consultants, we can't control our client's decisions, and as consultants, we are prime scapegoats.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blowout

This one of the most frightening books I have ever read. It gives a clear narrative of BP',s pipeline problems in Alaska, the refinery in Texas City, and the blowout in the gulf. And the author says nothing has changed.

[Jason Dotson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing on multiple levels!

[Rajesh Iyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who is associated with the oilfield industry. A scathing and damning expose on how CEOs of a billion dollar corporations put lives of their employees on the line in pursuit of their bonuses tied to stock price and profitability. There is a fair bit of technical stuff in there but presented in lay terms which is necessary to understand the context of how safety was sacrificed to bolster profit. The book could have been condensed a bit. In simple terms it’s about white collar crime - the only difference is this one does not have Wall Street guys as the protagonist. You cannot help but feel outrage after finishing this book. You may start judging the average criminal a little more leniently in comparison to these white collared criminals….

[FoxieMoxie203 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely detailed but boring. It'll make you think BP is run by the darkside.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It says a lot for Lusgarten's writing that I learned more about the drilling of oil wells than I ever expected to, and found it mostly really interesting. Interesting and also terrifying, given what I now know about the state of the Alaska pipeline and other matters. Lustgarten clearly doesn't like BP, but he's gathered a compelling amount of evidence against the company and the people who run it. I'd say this one is a must-read for anyone who's concerned about non-renewable energy, and particularly how it can impact the U. S.

[Toni Chanakas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it. It gave me a realistic portrayal into BP's business model and how corrupt they are.

This is a wake up call that we need to find alternate solution to our dependence of oil. It not only fuels our cars but all this plastic that has littered our planet.

Thanks Mr. Lustgarten for writing this book.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written and thorough piece of investigative journalism that looks at the far-reaching, horrific effects of a warped corporate culture. There are a lot of things I would like to say about that topic, but I'll just say that anyone who is a manager or contractor should read this book and learn from it.

[Mark Thurston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book very informative although a little dry overall. Like a good magazine article. It has definitely changed my opinion on the safety of pipelines. BP serves as a good example of the dangers of letting oil companies monitor themselves.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Author did a perfect job of explaining a complex field and I feel I have a much deeper understanding of the company as a whole.