But blaming high exploration costs, low refining margins, currency changes, security problems, maintenance overruns and more looks a bit lame.
The organisation has been heavily criticised of late, with problems including commuter chaos at London Bridge due to a disruptive station upgrade and a £53m fine for missed train punctuality targets as a result of maintenance overruns.
But court employees have said the project has been slow moving and beset by cost overruns; maintenance of existing courthouses, meanwhile, remains poor.
Virtually since its inception in the early 1980's, the program has been plagued by maintenance problems, cost overruns and design shortcomings.
The tunnels are estimated to cost $12-14bn12-14bnld, but given expected construction overruns and maintenance costs, the overall budget has been estimated at $50 to $64bn.
The government argues that the higher costs of private borrowing are outweighed by the transfer of risk, preventing expensive construction overruns and maintenance bills.
Moreover, many of the monorail efforts in this country have been associated with cost overruns, design flaws and maintenance difficulties.
Overbuilding, cost overruns and the expensive maintenance of world-class but rarely used venues — the chronic Olympic "legacy" issues — have long been a financial burden for host cities.
Yet, few architects are trained in the economics of architecture, and the most famous architects--the ones most likely to be labeled "artists --are notorious for budgets overruns artists --are martists --areoblems.
"If you didn't have cost overruns, and if you didn't have maintenance unscheduled downtime — if everything worked perfectly — then G.T.L. plants look pretty good on paper," said Don Hertzmark, an international energy consultant who has worked on gas-to-liquids and other natural gas projects for 30 years.
New York City Transit's poor management of subway service diversions leads to tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns and leaves the public ill-informed about when and where maintenance is happening, according to an audit by the city and state released on Sunday.
