BP’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill is still affecting the lives of many Americans, particularly the tens of thousands that have not settled lawsuits with the company.
Yet the company has bounced back from the billions it lost in the wake of the spill. BP announced today that its 2011 profit totaled $26 billion, a 114 percent jump from the year before, when the company’s “failure of supervision and accountability” caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
As the company prepares for its upcoming civil trial, let’s take a look at how BP has made out after the Deepwater Horizon disaster:
BP earned $3 million every hour in 2011. Its fourth-quarter profits reached $7.69 billion, which is up 38 percent from 2010. The company is sitting on another $14 billion in cash.
The company continues to scale back its production in the wake of the spill, producing 10 percent less than 2010 levels.
BP contributions to federal candidates totaled more than $98,000 in 2011, with more than half (65 percent) to Republican candidates. BP spent $8 million lobbying Congress in 2011, down from the record $15 million the company lobbied in 2009 – one year before the oil disaster.
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