Shell boss attacks BP

You will no doubt have noticed that the boss of Shell has launched a blistering attack on beleaguered rival BP over the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Peter Voser said his company would never have made the mistakes that led to the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon rig and the biggest environmental disaster in US history.

'Shell clearly would have drilled this well in a different way and would have had more options to prevent the accident from happening,' he said.

There has never been much love lost between Shell and BP. Old hostilities have renewed now the worst of the BP Deepwater Horizon fiasco is largely over.

Peter Voser’s comments have to be seen in light of the fact that before the oil spill Shell had seen BP overtake it as Europe’s biggest energy producer in terms of market value. While the disaster was ongoing it would have looked unseemly for Shell to attack BP – now the gloves are off.

There must be a lot of Shell workers and executives out there wondering whether it was wise of Voser to make these remarks which would come back to haunt him if Shell were to suffer a similar disaster.

It’s probably no more than a PR thrust at BP but of course if BP needs money to pay for the clean up then Shell would want to be in place to pick up any assets that came on the market at the right price. Perhaps a little canny positioning is going on.

Don’t forget Shell’s own past is far from spotless. In 2004 they massively over estimated their oil reserves and were forced to pay out £200 million in fines and compensation.

Two big oil and gas beasts are at each other’s throats again.