Case
Teaching Notes
Abstract
On March 2, 2006, as work crews shoveled through the heavy snow blanketing the Prudhoe Bay oil fields of northern Alaska, they spotted a small hole of no more than a quarter of an inch along the pipeline. As BP America, the company in charge of the oil fields, quickly learned, this tiny hole would prove to be the source of the worst oil spill ever – some 270,000 gallons of crude oil – on the North Slope of Alaska. BP America and its parent company, BP, soon discovered that their enormous re-branding efforts and carefully cultivated image for being environmentally friendly would be challenged by the reality of extracting petroleum in Alaska’s harsh northern environment.
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