Bp Ethical Dilemma

In my paper I will address the question, in what ways can the oil and gas industry improve its ethical risk management strategies in order to reduce accidents. As well as which method is preferable and why it is preferable. First to answer this question, I will address the first step in the Leeds Model which is to define the ethical dilemma that is taking place in the oil and gas industry. The ethical dilemma taking place in this case is the fact that Exxon, BP, and fracking are all taking shortcuts and less expensive routes regarding their safety equipment and procedures. They are doing this to reduce costs and increase profits at the possible cost of employees lives, the environment, and all stakeholders affected by there industry. In making …show more content…
The Deepwater Water Horizon spill also known as the (Gulf coast oil spill) was one of the most recent and damaging oil spills to date. The ethical dilemma took place when BP’s main engineers gave the go ahead to a faulty ship, causing an explosion and spilling 2.5 million gallons of oil into the gulf, as well as killing eleven crew members on board. Lastly I am going to talk about fracking, fracking has been around for over 60 years but only has recently came to the medias attention after several reports of it being harmful to the communities it surrounds and the environment as whole. Although fracking is on less of a global scale as the two main oil spills it still affects the livelihood of its’ stakeholders dramatically. If fracking is done efficiently without cutting corners it is very beneficial, however most companies do not take these measures. In the cases where fracking is not done properly is where the ethical dilemma occurs and companies put profit over social …show more content…
I will communicate my decision to the CEO of the companies for not having company values that instill ethical decision making within these companies. I think BP did take the right course of action after the spill occured. As they tried to re invent themselves into beyond petroleum which showed they were committed to changing into a more sustainable company. I have learned that my values slightly differ from that of these organizations, for example as a business I do believe the goal is to make a profit however I also believe you should have the values to put out the best product possible at all times and not cut corners. However, as a CEO of one of these enormous companies I don’t know how I would react put in the situation of having hundreds of shareholders pressuring me to make them as much money as possible. I believe after these incidents Exxon and BP both need to rethink their values seeing as their utilitarianism thinking ended up hurting the company rather than ultimately doing good. On the Fracking side of things, I believe they have good intentions and since they are only harming such a small portion of people they should continue to evolve their safety methods but not stop what they are doing, because ultimately I believe they are doing more good than harm in the long run. Reflecting on all the harm and the bad rep that the oil