A BP presentation from March, uncovered by ProPublica, brags of successful exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and declining production costs.

Obviously things look a lot different now. No one knows what will happen to deepwater drilling -- in which BP is the global leader -- or Gulf of Mexico drilling -- BP's key growth sector. (Although it looks like Gulf drilling will come back quickly.)

As for charts showing declining production costs, these claims look dubious after revelations of cut corners on rig design.