British Petroleum and the BTC pipeline

Résumé du document

The BTC (Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan) project is a 1,770 km long pipeline which will transport up to one million barrels of oil per day from the Sangachal terminal next to Baku in Azerbaijan, then through Tblisi in Georgia, and finally to a new marine terminal at Ceyhan in Turkey. Eleven large oil MNC's from different countries (US, Japan, France, and Italy) are taking part in the project, led by British Petroleum (BP). This pipeline represents an important strategic interest for western countries, as it is a means to reduce the dependency on Middle Eastern oil and to avoid the political instability of the post-Soviet Russia. With the implementation of the project several issues have arisen concerning the consequences of the route, and the building and the functioning of the pipeline in the different countries where it runs. However, according to the Covalence Ethical Ranking 2006 (Covalence, 2007), BP is at the 4th rank in the ?best ethical quote score' category across all sectors, and at the 1st rank amongst ?oil and gas' companies in the same category. Indeed, as far as the BTC pipeline project is concerned, BP is in partnership with Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other organizations set up a ?Regional Sustainability Development Program' (RSDP) aiming at addressing critical social, ethical and environmental issues on a long term basis. Despite BP's efforts, certain NGOs such as Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth still blame BP for unethical behavior. This case outlines on one hand the power and the impact of large MNCs such as BP on countries in which they settle their business, and on the other hand the influence of NGOs on the behavior of businesses. Through this report, an evaluation of BP's approach to the BTC pipeline project will be drawn in relation to the criticisms levied by NGOs. The first part will be aimed at identifying the ethical issues raised by BP's activity and the stakeholders affected by the implementation of the pipeline project. The second part will focus on the assessment, through different ethical frameworks, of BP's action in relation to the ethical issues identified in the previous part. And finally, a judgment on BP's behavior will be established and possible alternative solutions concerning BP's action will be proposed.

Extraits

[...] BP actually answers the criterion to act ethically. From my point of view, those two approaches may be too extreme to take a realistic decision. BP mainly acts ethically coping with the civil society and the environment. Indeed, BP made a lot of efforts to cope with its responsibilities by implementing several programme concerning sustainable development, even if the prime objective was at the PR level. The major problem they faced was due to the fact that they settle in countries that, from a western point of view, are not morally right (corruptions, human rights, etc). [...]

[...] As far as the BTC pipeline is concerned, some human rights have been abused. Several reports (Bankwatch website, 2004-2005) mentioned the facts that freedom of speech and association still doesn't seem to be granted rights in countries where the BTC pipeline runs. For instance, peaceful demonstrations against the BTC project, held by villagers, have been broken up by violent interventions of the police (Bankwatch website, 2002.). Furthermore, due to a large spread of illiteracy, individuals from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have not been able to know their rights, particularly concerning their property rights. [...]

[...] BP is close to the ‘accommodation' strategy because it actually takes into account all the issues raised by its implantation in the three countries, and it implements the RSDP in response to the different NGOs blaming at BP for what the pipeline caused. However, it did not really go further Overall judgement and alternatives solutions possible Throughout this report, BP's actions have been assessed ethically, and it results in different points of view. However, it is possible to find out trends in function of the type of framework used. Two main aspects which are competing can be identified: absolutism versus relativism. [...]

[...] Indeed, BP is actually bringing western values. For instance, before the BTC pipeline project started, a major part of lands in Turkey were not linked to their owners through legal documents. Since the development of the project, the Turkish government laid down a law concerning the property (BP website). The second point that could show the ‘westernisation' established by BP is through its RSDP project, and particularly through the CIP. Funds given by BP to this project are intended, among others, to provide agricultural or health training, or to build libraries and cultural centres (IFC website, 2003). [...]

[...] (2004) Figure Government between business's and society's interest 2. Ethical assessment of BP's action Through this part, BP's action will be evaluated in term of its ethical thrust thanks to the use of several ethical frameworks. According to Crane A. and Matten D., ethical theories can be defined as rules and principles that determine right and wrong for any given situation” (2004: 76). There are a lot of different ethical theories and a lot of different way of thinking, however, the assessment of some of those points of view helps business to find solutions to the ethical issues they face Normative Theoretical Approaches There are three main normative approaches which define the morally correct way of acting: Ethical egoism, Utilitarianism and Kantianism. [...]