Like many of you, I'm reading all the great diaries about the BP Rupture/Oilpocalypse/Oilmageddon fiasco. Many thanks to Fishgrease and all the other diarists (so many that I'm afraid I'll miss some if I try to list them---they're all heroes) who have written to educate and inform us.
I am more and more depressed with each new wave of bad news. I'm outraged. I want to do something, but what? My instinct is to boycott, but having read the comments in Southernlib's diary today, I'm not sure all-out boycott is the best approach. I'm still mulling that one over as I do everything I can to be conscious of, and to reduce my carbon footprint.
I wasn't sure I even knew what "BP" really is, so I checked wiki and BP's website. I learned a few lot of things:
Did you know that ARCOis owned by BP? BP acquired ARCO in 2000.
More than 1,300 ARCO-branded sites currently operate in five western states: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. Parent company, BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through 11,000 retail outlets.
In 1911, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust had been broken up by order of the Supreme Court. The cornerstone of the company was Standard Oil Cleveland, which had become Sohio.
BP initially took a 25 per cent stake in Sohio in exchange for the Alaskan crude, with the understanding that its shareholding in the company would rise with the production from Prudhoe Bay. The first oil flowed through the Trans-Alaska pipeline in 1977. The following year BP became the majority Sohio shareholder.
In 1987, BP acquired Sohio outright and made it the cornerstone of a new national operation, BP America.
Standard Oil Indiana became Amoco.
In 1998, Amoco and BP announced that they had merged, combining their worldwide operations into a single organization. Overnight, the new company, BP Amoco, became the largest producer of both oil and natural gas in the US.
At the start of the new millennium, Amoco service stations in the United States were rebranded BP, although Amoco gasoline continued to flow from the pumps.
I don't get that last sentence---somehow I don't think there's a difference between Amoco gasoline and BP gasoline any more.
I also find it interesting that Standard Oil Trust had been split up, yet the resulting companies seemed to re-consolidate under the BP corporation. Hmmmm...food for thought.
Aral is a major fuel/station brand in Germany.
In 2000, Veba Oel, a long-time shareholder in Aral, bought the company outright and assumed the Aral name. Then in 2002, BP acquired Veba Oel. Aral became a subsidiary of BP’s German business, and BP’s 630 stations in Germany took on the familiar Aral blue and white.
Another page on BP's website tells us:
So in addition to being Germany’s leading fuel brand marketer Aral is also the country’s third largest fast food retailer, after McDonald’s and Burger King.
I don't speak or read German, but here is a link to Aral's website for those of you who do: http://www.aral.de/...
How about ampm? Yep. ampm is a BP franchise.
BP and ampm are iconic industry brands. We invite you to reap the benefits of our success.
Oh we're reaping the 'benefits' of BP's success all right!
Our respected brands lead the petroleum – convenience store industry.
[snip]
Petroleum and convenience store growth is an unstoppable force - an evolving industry with strong customer demand.
I don't know about convenience stores, but I definitely hope that petroleum growth is not an unstoppable force. We must do something about that 'strong customer demand'.
Here's another familiar brand: CASTROL
Castrol acquired by BP: July 2000
With the acquisition of Castrol by BP, Castrol has become the leading brand within BP’s lubricants business.
[snip]
It has been a very successful union. Castrol’s creative and innovative marketing and brand management expertise has fitted well with BP’s ability to build highly profitable, performance-driven businesses. Today, a distinctive global lubricants operation is taking on all competitors...and winning over customers in markets across the world.
Not this customer.
How about the BP Travel Centers, and BP Connect, modern day truck-stop style facilities with everything a traveler would need. These facilities contain their own coffee shops called Wild Bean Cafe. According to wiki, they also lease space to tennants such as McDonald's, Krispy Kreme, KFC, Nando's.
I'm less clear about the status of BP Express stores, which are apparently being replaced by Pick n Pay Express, with BP acting as landlord.
Have you watched as your plane has been refueled? You might have seen the Air BP logo.
We are one of the world's largest suppliers of both aviation fuels (both Jet Kerosene & Aviation Gasoline) and lubricants (for both turbine and piston-engined aircraft) currently supplying over 26 million tonnes (around 8 billion gallons) of aviation fuels and lubricants to our customers across the globe per annum.
I've spent quite a bit of time today trying to peel a bit of the BP onion. I don't claim to have uncovered all the products and services and businesses that fall under the BP umbrella. I would be remiss if I didn't mention BP's investments in alternative energy sources, such as BP Solar. I am glad to see that some of the profits of this conglomerate are directed toward alternative energy. I was almost getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about it until I learned that Greenpeace awarded them the Emerald Paintbrush for worst greenwash in 2008. According to Greenpeace's James Turner:
You wouldn't know it from their adverts, but BP bosses are pumping billions into their oil and gas business and investing peanuts in renewables. They've won the 2008 Emerald Paintbrush award because their slogans suggest that they are serious about clean energy, while their actions show they're still hell-bent on oil extraction.
Some speculate that BP won't survive this catastrophy. After the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal, that corporation continues to exist as a wholy owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.
It's even more depressing to think that something similar will happen here: BP will continue to profit in some form or another, while the Gulf of Mexico and its shorelines, and the lives of people who live and work there may never fully recover.