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The Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico – which killed 11 men working on the installation and injured 17 others – is remembered as the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
It is also recalled for the public-relations response of oil giant BP, which leased the rig from operator Transocean and whose chief executive was criticized in the media for attending a yacht race on the Isle of Wight during the clean-up operation.
The oil-rig explosion took place on April 20, 2010. Spillage continued until September 19. But in mid-June Tony Hayward was pictured at the Cowes yachting event, off the south coast of England.
BP claimed that it was his first non-working day since the crisis started and that he was always in touch with what was happening. But a White House spokesman referred to the move as “one of a long line of PR gaffes and mistakes.”
President Obama also criticized BP for its $50 million advertising campaign during the clean-up, featuring Tony Hayward and promising “to get this done; to make it right.” The president claimed the money would have been better spent resolving the crisis itself, although BP said that “not a cent” had been diverted from the oil-spill response to fund the advertising campaign.
Tony Hayward announced his intention to resign in July 2010, saying that BP would be a changed company as a result of the oil spill,...