Despite Gulf oil spill, rig owner executives get big bonuses for saftey

[jimmy olsen]

How do they sleep at night!

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/04/03/gulf.spill.bonuses/

Despite Gulf oil spill, rig owner executives get big bonuses
By the CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) -- Declaring 2010 "the best year in safety performance in our company's history," Transocean Ltd., owner of the Gulf of Mexico oil rig that exploded, killing 11 workers, has awarded its top executives hefty bonuses and raises, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

That includes a $200,000 salary increase for Transocean president and chief executive officer Steven L. Newman, whose base salary will increase from $900,000 to $1.1 million, according to the SEC report. Newman's bonus was $374,062, the report states.

Newman also has a $5.4 million long-term compensation package the company awarded him upon his appointment as CEO in March 2010, according to the SEC filing.

The latest cash awards are based in part on the company's "performance under safety," the Transocean filing states.

"Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate," the SEC statement reads. "As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our Company's history."

The company called that record "a reflection on our commitment to achieving an incident-free environment, all the time, everywhere," the SEC filing states.

The company did not respond to an e-mail from CNN seeking comment.

The April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig injured 17 workers and killed 11 others, including nine Transocean employees, according to the SEC filing. It has been called the worst spill in U.S. history.

The well was capped three months later, but not before millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf.

In January, President Barack Obama's National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling released a report that spread blame for the accident among Transocean, BP -- which leased the rig -- and Halliburton, which installed the rig's cement casing.

The commission said problems with deepwater drilling are "systemic" and that only "significant reform" will prevent another disaster.

Another report released March 23 determined that the oil spill was caused by a piece of drill pipe trapped in the rig platform's blowout preventer, a device intended to stop oil from flowing into the Gulf. The report was commissioned by various U.S. agencies, including the Interior Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

The Interior Department has said a much broader report that relies on additional sources of data -- including eyewitness accounts and photographs -- will be released this summer.

The oil spill has prompted a flood of lawsuits against BP, Transocean and Halliburton from a variety of plaintiffs, including owners of Gulf shore businesses who claim they suffered heavy financial losses because of the spill.

The plaintiffs also include Transocean shareholders who contend the company falsely claimed it had remedied past safety problems with its blowout preventers, prior to the Gulf spill.

[The Minsky Moment]

How do they sleep at night!

Probably better than you might think.  While bags of money can be noisy, they do still make comfortable pillows.

[DGuller]

How do they sleep at night!

On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies.

[Tonitrus]

How do they sleep at night!

Probably better than you might think.  While bags of money can be noisy, they do still make comfortable pillows.

You can ski on it too.

[DGuller]

Those scenes are not realistic.  If that were real life, Scrooge McDuck would've broken his neck the first time he tried to dive into the pile of gold coins.

[Slargos]

Those scenes are not realistic.  If that were real life, Scrooge McDuck would've broken his neck the first time he tried to dive into the pile of gold coins.

Not to mention the extreme unlikelyness of a duck wearing glasses and a hat. 

[Monoriu]

That was one of my favourite shows when I was a kid.  I particularly loved the gold coin scenes.

[jimmy olsen]

How do they sleep at night!

On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies.

I knew Languish wouldn't fail me!

[alfred russel]

Tim seems to have exaggerated the title a bit--it doesn't seem they got the bonuses for safety. Tim also needs to be aware that for mid management up in large corporations bonuses are effectively a part of salary. Many people have a target bonus that is in excess of their salary that pays out unless the company is facing bankruptcy or they've quit/committed a terminatable offense.

[Josquius]

Those scenes are not realistic.  If that were real life, Scrooge McDuck would've broken his neck the first time he tried to dive into the pile of gold coins.

Not to mention that as a duck scrooge should have no interest in money whatsoever.

[Viking]

Transocean did have a good safety year. I want to make this clear Transocean is not to blame for the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. Transocean staff seem to be the only people coming out of this situation with any honor. They were the ones that did try to stop the operations before the explosion but were overruled by BP. The equipment that failed was not owned or operated by Transocean and the operations which were insufficient were not Transocean.

Had this been BP bonuses I would agree. But these are Transocean bonuses and Transocean was not the one taking shortcuts with safety to save money.

[MadImmortalMan]

Tim seems to have exaggerated the title a bit--it doesn't seem they got the bonuses for safety.

He says they got bonuses for saftey. Completely different thing.

[Viking]

From what I gather TransOcean executives get their bonuses based on performance in many different areas, one of these areas is safety, not only on this one rig but on all their rigs. The safety portion of the bonus is about 25% (iirc) of the total bonus and they are being paid out about 2/3 of the total bonus pool for all areas. Apparently 100% of the safety portion of the pool is being paid out.

[CountDeMoney]

18000 employees, 9 dead = Well above 90% survival rate.  They earned their bonuses.

[CountDeMoney]

and Halliburton, which installed the rig's cement casing.

Darth Cheney: clinically dead, still making bank.