Deepwater Horizon contractor awards executive bonuses for record ‘safety’ year
Just weeks ago, sightings of oily sediment washing up on Gulf Coast shores served as a pointed reminder of the continued devastation of last year’s Deepwater
Jul 31, 2020197.6K Shares3M Views
Just weeks ago, sightings of oily sedimentwashing up on Gulf Coast shores served as a pointed reminder of the continued devastation of last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill — a mysterythat was never solved, despite conflicting reportsattempting to find an explanation. Now, Transocean, the offshore drilling firm that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon oil rig for BP, has released an annual reportlauding itself for “the best year in safety performance in our company’s history.”
The full report(PDF) begins with a letter to shareholders that acknowledges the April 20, 2010, event, before going on to absolve Transocean of any liability in connection to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent gush of oil that resulted in 11 deaths and 205.8 million gallons of oilin the waters off the Gulf Coast.. The report states:
“„It remains our view that Transocean is contractually indemnified against all claims stemming from the environmental and economic impacts of the hydrocarbons spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the Macondo well after the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon.
The report goes on to detail the “bonus targets” made available to its executive officers in part to honor the company’s “exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate.”
Based on bonus percentages and salary figures given in the report, a breakdown of executive bonuses follows:
Name Title Bonus (% of salary) Cheryl Richard Former Senior VP, HR & IT $213,000 (60%) Ihab Toma Executive VP, Global Business $285,000 (75%) Eric Brown Executive VP, Legal & Administration $304,200 (65%) Arnaud Baubillier Executive VP, Asset and Performance $326,250 (75%) Ricardo Rosa Senior VP & CFO $337,500 (75%) Steven Newman President & CEO $900,000 (100%) The executives were also awarded stock options, adding to the millions in stocks that each holds in the company. The report goes on to detail $380,000 in raises for the executives that went into effect in February of this year.
The news that Transocean higher-ups are doing just fine for themselves comes on the heels of reports that BP is set to restart drillingon its 10 Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil rigs. The drilling will begin under stricter safety regulations this summer.
Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
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