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London -- June 16, 2010 (Reuters) -- In an effort to shore-up precipitously falling share prices at British Petroleum (BP) company, ever since its deadly and now environmentally disastrous and continuing Gulf of Mexico oil calamity, executives with the company have announced that BP will be changing its name effective July 1, 2010.
In a press announcement BP executives state they wish to convey to skittish shareholders that, firstly, the company remains committed to offshore drilling and, thus, wishes to emphasize the ocean, or simply, its "water"-based exploration and development as a corporate foundation. Secondly, the press announcement states that "the company seeks to assure shareholders that it will continue operating in the black while committing billions of dollars to the Gulf clean-up and relief effort." Thus the new company name will be "Blackwater."
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Until recently "Blackwater" was the name of an American company which, under contract with the American State Department, provided training to Iraqi police and armed escort services to American and other diplomats in Iraq. The former Blackwater Worldwide changed its name to the enigmatic "Xe" in 2009 after it became embroiled in a legal and diplomatic uproar after the killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad by Blackwater guards in 2007. With that change the name Blackwater became available and appears to have found a company willing to give the moniker a second chance.
BP-cum-Blackwater spokesman Nigel Pound, at a recent press conference chortled that the new Blackwater would not only not kill any people, but would save the lives of millions of investors by bringing them ever-increasing profits over the life of the company. When asked about the eleven American workers who perished in the explosion of the company's Deepwater Horizon drilling vessel in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, Pound said, "That was BP, not Blackwater."
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