posted by: jonathan

Call it lack of sleep, or maybe extreme disrespect for the dead, either way, BP chief executive Tony Hayward on Sunday said about the Gulf oil spill, “Nobody wants this thing over more than I do. I'd like my life back.” Oh, really? And what about the 11 men who died on the oil rig explosion that set off the massive leak? With yet another PR crisis brewing over these remarks, Hayward posted an apology on Facebook to the families of the dead men, according to a report on CBS’s “The Early Show.” Hayward wrote: “Those words don't represent how I feel about this tragedy.” Was Facebook the appropriate forum for this type of apology? Related Advertising Age In print ads, BP promises to “make this right.”

As if the failed attempts at containing the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico weren't enough, now BP is facing a public relations snag.

The oil company is now trying to mop up comments made Sunday by chief executive Tony Hayward, who said that "nobody wants this thing over more than I do. I'd like my life back."

Trying to save face on Facebook, Hayward posted an apology to the families of the 11 men who were killed in the April 20 rig explosion, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reported on "The Early Show".

"Those words don't represent how I feel about this tragedy," Hayward wrote.

Meanwhile, Hayward said the oil company wasn't completely prepared to deal with the disastrous oil leak, a newspaper reported Thursday. The Financial Times quoted Tony Hayward as saying it was "an entirely fair criticism" that the company wasn't fully ready. "What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your tool kit," Hayward was quoted as saying.  However, Hayward said BP had been successful so far in keeping most of the oil away from the southeastern U.S. coast.  "Considering how big this has been, very little has got away from us," Hayward was quoted as saying. 

Hayward said the April 20 explosion on an oil rig that caused the leak was a "one in a million chance," but that risk needed to be cut to one in a billion or even one in a trillion.  BP's latest attempted to stop the leak stalled Wednesday when a diamond-tipped saw became stuck while trying to cut the pipe. 

The company plans another attempt with giant shears, but said that even if that works it will be less satisfactory than if the saw had completed a clean cut.  

Article Source: CBS News

• June 3rd, 2010
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• Tags: crisis pr, facebook, public relations