The quote from Carl-Henric Svanberg should speak for itself.

“[Obama] is frustrated, because he cares about the small people. And we care about the small people. I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don’t care, but that is not the case in BP. We care about the small people.”

Svanberg later apologized for his clumsy choice of words, and a BP spokesman attributed it to an error in translation. But BP’s chairman really should have known better.

In my humble opinion, Svanberg is a typical example of a man who became CEO just because he had some nice buddies. He was never a good leader. And he is definitely not suited to be the chairman in a big international company.

Swedish Reactions: SVD,  Expressen,  DN,  GP

American media: Washington Post,  NY Daily News,  News Tribune

Today, June 12, it is somewhere between 40 million and 110 million gallons of oil that have gushed into the Mexican Gulf since April 20. 11 workers were killed and it the accident triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Now hitting the Alabama beaches hard.

Officials from BP say the only way to permanently stop the well is drilling a relief well. That cannot be finished before August.

U.S. President Barack Obama has escalated his criticism of BP. The company’s chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg is called for a meeting with the president on Wednesday. And the US coast guard has now given the company 48 hours to come up more effective measures to collect the gushing oil.

Obama has also discussed the issue with British Prime Minister Cameron.

In addition to the potential for many billions in fines, BP is responsible for paying all cleanup costs and maybe $75 million for economic damages. The BP share is going downhill. And the anger against the company is growing everywhere.

Still you see those ads everywhere: “We will get this done. We will make this right”.

But the question is: Will they?

Swedish Newspers: SVD  Expressen

US Media: Dallas News  Al.com  Miami Herald

British Media: The Guardian