[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Mike Oxlong

I was down at the Global Petroleum show yesterday during the set up. I have another job that is involved in the trade show industry. Anyways one of my clients also does subsea drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and around the world.

I asked him about this whole mess and if he thought BP was going to be able to get it under control or capped.

The impression he gave me was that BP has spent so much money drilling this well they don't want to just close it up and risk not realizing any profits from it. They are looking for a way to still be able to obtain the oil from the well without spending a fortune on re drilling.

Keep in mind this is from a competitor and I have no idea on all of the details on what exactly is happening down there or if BP's efforts are for the good of the environment or not. I just thought it was a very interesting and surprising comment on the situation.

The fact that BP's efforts aren't 100% on the containment and well being of the environment right now is appaling (if true).

I've heard this a few times and I'm fairly certain this is a ridiculous assumption. Think about it. The costs to date for trying to stop this well, and the clean up to date have been huge. BP's site pegs it at ~$990MM. Which is MORE than enough to redrill the well if they'd had a chance to just shut it off and lose the well.

Then when you add the fact that their stock has dropped somewhere around 40%, and you'd have to be absolutely insane to believe that BP isn't doing everything they can to get this thing capped ASAP, regardless of whether or not they'll be able to reuse the wellbore.