Tue, 08 Aug 2006

Alaska pipeline: A warning for Big Oil

In my opinion, this is an effect of the current "we want it all now" climate in business: a long term view these days means next quarter, not next decade. Capital projects are written down quickly, and the stock price on the ticker is the only measure of business success.

This is the attitude responsible for deferring costs to the future. It not only leads to infrastructure decay, but to environmental destruction and to outsourcing, downsizing and merging. And it's in evidence in both government and the private sector: why spend today when you can make the next generation pay?

This attitude can only be sustained for so long, of course, because eventually the future is us. It's starting to bite back - and the people at the top are going to learn the truth of an old libertarian saying very quickly: there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

As BP shuts down its corroding pipelines in Alaska's North Slope, some analysts are wondering why the problem wasn't caught sooner and say that the company's problems foreshadow a larger mess with the world's aging oil infrastructure.

(link) [CNN.com]

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