The drawdown of the BP oil spill may bring relief to Gulf residents, but one sector is feeling the pinch – companies that went into overdrive to produce containment boom and are now wallowing in loss.
The manufacturers charge that BP placed bulk orders but since last month has quietly reneged on commitments, leaving the companies saddled with millions of dollars in inventory and forcing them to lay off workers.
Researchers say that one-quarter of the 4.9 million barrels dumped in the world’s largest ever oil spill remains, while much of it dispersed naturally irrespective of containment efforts.
After the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up in April, some firms said they worked around-the-clock to produce containment boom, a floating barrier which is placed in water to halt the flow of oil.
Larry Buck, chief executive officer of Victory Awning in Fort Worth, Texas, said BP owed his company $400,000 for boom orders and that he wasted another $500,000 on raw materials that he could have invested elsewhere.
Mr Buck said he initially hired additional workers but is now laying off about 20 people, or one-fifth of his work-force.
“We’ve got to cut somewhere,” he said by telephone. “We’re not like the government. We’ve got to pony up every week.”
The British-based energy giant declined to discuss individual cases but said it was looking at how to resolve disputes.
“We are reaching out to our suppliers to understand these individual situations that have been reported,” BP spokeswoman Elizabeth Adams said.
“Through that process we hope to explore a range of possible solutions,” she said.
BP is setting up a $20 billion fund to compensate those hurt by the disaster. It fully capped the ruptured underground well last week after months of efforts.
US government researchers said last week that 41 per cent of the spilled oil naturally evaporated or dispersed, in part because the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem is accustomed to periodic seepage.
The response by the government and BP retrieved or destroyed another one-third, while 26 per cent of the oil remains either in the water or shore.