This mess is going to ding up BP’s public image pretty bad and, yes, they will be fined, and sued, and will ultimately pay billions of dollars for this spill. I have no doubt that BP will survive this mess, but the price of a PR and environmental blunder this bad will certainly hurt. A lot of people, that aren’t accountants or experts, like to paint the picture like BP is the bad guy. Nobody stood more to lose than BP out of a situation like this. I’m not saying that BP didn’t do anything wrong… if they hadn’t we wouldn’t have thousands of barrels of oil pouring into the gulf. However, every barrel of oil that pours out into the ocean is a barrel that BP is going to have to pay big, big money to try to get out of the gulf and is one less barrel that they can sell to the people that need it. So, let’s just remain clear, this was an accident. BP wouldn’t knowingly cut corners (as an organization) to save a few pennies when the stakes are this high. They can make enough of a profit without cutting corners. But, at the same time, don’t pretend like BP wasn’t pushing anyone to keep costs down. They make money by the billions because they have to invest money by the hundreds of billions in order to get oil that is buried miles under water or under the ground and refine it, transport it, clean up after themselves, move tons of equipment around on a daily basis, etc. In terms of profit margins, or the % of every dollar made that actually becomes profit, the big cable news networks are all making at least 10 times what oil companies do.
The whole situation is bad, and bad for everyone… however, it is worst for BP. But, BP isn’t going to go anywhere. They are just going to lose more money than any of us can imagine seeing as a result of this mess.