As Obama and politicians continue to test the political winds concerning BP (NYSE:BP), if those winds are too strong, they could end up not allowing BP to do business in the U.S. any longer as a consequence of the spill.
Supposedly this is based on what may be called a pattern of behavior, based on the current oil spill, along with the Texas City refinery explosion which killed 15 workers, and the pipeline leak in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 2006.
This is odd to me in that BP hasn't even been found culpable yet, as it could have been the responsibility of another company in regard to what caused the disaster, which hasn't been determined yet.
Not only could BP lose future business, but they may lose control of its oil and gas wells in America, although the idea of having American companies take over them would give a look of Hugo Chavez when he took over the oil wells and refineries of oil companies in Venezuela, something which wouldn't look good to the rest of the world.
The administration does have the power to do this, as BP could be removed as operator of any of the leases on land or offshore based on performance metrics. The Interior Department would be the arm of the government with the authority to make that determination.
In that case BP could still remain as part of the operations, so the government is perceived as destroying the company, but it would be as a minority player, and not the one with the majority interest in the projects they're currently involved in.
Some think this is a real possibility going forward.
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