British Petroleum (BP) is one of the world’s largest oil companies and is infamously known for the Transocean oil rig explosion which released approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The revenue lost by 210 million gallons of crude is worth approximately $408,807,000 at market prices in 2010. Combined with other losses BP incurred, the losses are well over $19 billion. BP employs almost 80,000 and has a market capitalization of over $90 billion in today’s share prices. BP lost over $6 billion last year even though it had revenues of $222.89 billion. Chevron also experienced a negative 34.40% year-over-year quarterly growth. Major oil companies with hundreds of thousands of employees and millions in market value are hurting. ExxonMobil earned $16 billion last year and approximately $211.20 billion in profit during the latest U.S recession.
Fossil fuel industries are propped up by $10 billion a year in U.S Government subsidies. Worldwide, governments subsidize oil companies in the amount of $5.3 trillion a year. While fossil fuel companies provide employment and investment opportunities in the trillions, the IMF reported a staggering 1.6 million deaths per year would be saved if air pollution from oil companies were eliminated. These are the challenges of creating a healthy economy balanced with a healthy planet.
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