The oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has damaged BP's reputation will they manage to avoid a share collapse to 350p.?



472p to buy this morning.

can't disagree, but caution with shorting still required, as a squeeze can be sudden and painful - e.g. friday, clearly when many positions were closed

360 is the 10-year low as shown above, but this is a new ballgame and once that level is conclusively broken, then almost any level is possible ..... certainly the divi is almost certain to be abandoned for now, so no good reason to hold on that basis .... however, all the big institutions and pension funds etc are almost obligated to be holders ..... there will also be behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring which will influence

BP's future liability is (almost) incalcuable at present, this reminds us of the asbestiosis liability problems years ago. This was ultimately resolved by Cape buying insurance and capping their liability. At this stage only very brave/stupid PI's buy into BP.

Given the sharp sell off today, and no end in sight, alas, this problem has become a political one. As soon as Cameron bucks up and gets to grip with the crises, then the short traders and other speculators will continue to pour it on BP. In my mind, BP has to start fight tough, and hard, and even ugly, because the vultures will want to screew them totally. BP must use every dirty trick in the book, because that is exactly what its adversaries are doing. It now dog eat dog time

hali - i rather agree .... though sooner or later this leak will be plugged, that will only be the starting point for assessing BP's liability - and of course BP are self-insured

clubman - i don't think BP has much of a hand to play, other than it has huge resources in both cash and assets ..... while there are obvious political implications, i think it's a bit of a longshot to expect the taxpayer to come to BP's rescue, not least because, unless i am much mistaken, the gov't no longer holds a slice

Don't forget that 35% of the ownership of the Macondo well lies with other (US) parties. They will have to stump up their own share of the cash for the cleanup as well although we haven't heard much about that recently.

Someone needs to remind Obanana what happened to his ancestors and who gave them their freedom.

oh for goodness sake! .... what sort of crackpot idea is rattling in your little head?

club BP's first priority is to plug the hole,it appears their actual strategy is to drill relief wells, unfortunately the pictures of apparently tens of thousands of barrels of oil poluting the gulf of mexico in the meantime only increase the animosity towards them.We would like to think they know what they are doing as they are highly paid professional oilmen. All along since this disater happened BP must have known what was possible to solve this oil leak and the interim measures taken golf balls etc were not going to solve the problem but they needed to be seen to be doing something.The environmental damage will last for generations..... they need very,very deep pockets.

Obama has likened this disaster very similar to 9/11, possibly even worse and has greatly affected the American psyche. And Florida is hugely affected as tourist numbers dwindled significantly.

Just bought for the first time @ 354p

Good luck but I think it's too early to buy.

What the hell! He who dares? (Gets shat on) Long BP. 356.0 :o)

who is thinking of buying, Hayward will be roasted on thursday by the senators does he have any defence......

only reason to buy is to bank a profit on a short position and/or as a precaution against being squeezed over a w/e

cynic if you are short there is more to come!

350'ish currently being tested as a support ... if that fails, then the bears will make hay - as they would!

It would take BP a long, long time to get back to its peak, if that will ever happen. Interesting graph.

Hayward will be alright he is being coached by George Galloway ........ respect man

weak finish to wall street after strong start - down about 15 - and bp pretty much at it's low of $30.70 (down 9.63%)

...thats me - making hay while the sun shines,, l opened a small short today on the back of some big fund management selling in pre market jitters , plus cant see a reason for hi value individuals, or even , institutions , holding if div. is indefinately suspended and wallahs like Senators Reid and Genendez carry the day in making a massive dent in BPs warchest. Bloomberg report that the biggest bet on BP in options mkt is the opening in the past two weeks of 33,445 "put" options to SELL at $12-50 c *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. . Now much as i abhor B.P. s abysmal-almost criminal - safety record which i have banged on about for years ,what are the horrorfying implications for other deep sea drilling outfits in the light of Deepwater disaster let alone UK.PLC. whose coffers will be decimated if BP collapses ? As for other deep sea drillers - Will they even be able to secure insurance at any price ? .....and all this at a time when the concept of peak oil is more relavent than ever.********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* Lets not forget the USA investing community hold almost 40% of stk in issue, with China and lndia holding a furthur 17% , and EU constituients accounting for approx 12%. So it would seem it is in NO-ONES interests for B.P. to go into chapter 10/ or at least chap 11. ! Quite ironically, 43 out of the 64 district judges, dispensing justice, in those very oil affected states either own common stock/ warrants / bonds or one or another financial instrument in BP so the waters are furthur muddied ...********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************..As As for Hayward; the man is an utter waste of space - Brownie, warts and all, would at least have come out fighting - dragging a screaming Cameron with him , and in no uncertain terms told Obama and his political lackies to get off his back, and allow the so called "experts" to rectify this matter,,,and then told obama to get him a gin and tonic which is all he is good for. Lets face it; Obamas knowledge of the oil industry could be written on the back of a postage stamp