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.

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

TFC must have a screen 3ft wide to see all .......

i think it's pretty witty, especially for a neo-frog
didn't they get mangled by the springboks though

i didn't recognise him without his accent.

Moved stop to entry 356.0 BP. long. Discretion (fear) !

banked a nice little profit at 357.9 ..... markets are determined to head north and bid book is longer than offer ..... but assuredly would not go long!

Moved stop to 360.0 to lock in +5. I agree Cynic but it is tradeable both ways.

have a moveable plan to short again at either 395 or 345, and i haven't a clue which point is likely to be hit first

steady on Cynners ....reg.post 131 -..thats so below the belt u nearly broke my ankle :-) To be honest though its the "jeckl and hyde" footie team that concerns me more at the moment.- mind you im glad we are not in your group with algeria

Stopped out 360.0 time for golf :o)

footie boys are just a bunch of shirtlifters .... especially "les bleus"

Your right there cynic ,all of them a bunch of overpaid poofs.

Looks like BP is starting to look wobbly again.

true, but equally 350 continues to support, at least for now

A US government panel is to question BP's US chief over the Gulf oil disaster amid damning accusations the firm took shortcuts.

Lamar McKay has been called to testify along with heads of other oil companies about the safety of deepwater drilling.

Congressmen have suggested in a letter to BP that the company took decisions which raised the risk of a disaster.

US President Barack Obama is due to make a speech to the nation on the spill.

He is expected to outline the next steps his administration will take when he appears on prime-time TV on Tuesday evening.

The president has been touring Gulf states affected by the leak, which he has likened to the 9/11 attacks in terms of its impact on future US policies.

Oil has been spewing into the Gulf of Mexico since a drilling rig leased by BP exploded and sank on 20 April with the loss of 11 lives.

The US Coast Guard estimates that about 35,000 barrels escape each day.

A cap placed by BP on the damaged oil well earlier this month is now said to be collecting about 15,000 barrels daily.

Fitch Ratings, one of the three big credit rating agencies, has downgraded BP by six notches, from AA to BBB.

The move means Fitch is less confident of BP's ability to repay its debts following the huge clean-up and legal costs the company is expected to rack up as a result of the spill.

'Nightmare well'

Mr McKay is due to attend the hearing of the House of Representatives committee on energy and environment along with senior officials from other oil companies.

After they testified before the Senate about the disaster last month, President Obama described the hearing as a "ridiculous spectacle".

He talked of "executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else".

While the theme of Tuesday's hearing is deepwater drilling in general, BP chief executive Tony Hayward will face a separate House hearing on Thursday devoted to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Congressmen Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak sent Mr Hayward a letter on Sunday in which they set out technical questions they expect him to answer.

The letter quotes internal communications between BP engineers before the disaster in which the site is described as a "nightmare well".

'Carelessness and complacency'

At issue were the choice for the design of the well, preparations for and tests of the cement job, and assurances that the well was properly sealed on the top.

The drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf with 11 deaths Among other things, BP apparently rejected advice of a sub-contractor, Halliburton, in preparing for a cementing job to close up the well.

BP rejected Halliburton's recommendation to use 21 centralisers to make sure the casing ran down the centre of the well bore. Instead, BP used six.

In an e-mail on 16 April, a BP official involved in the decisions explained: "It will take 10 hours to install them. I do not like this."

Later on the same day, another official recognised the risks of proceeding with insufficient centralisers but added: "Who cares, it's done, end of story, will probably be fine."

"It appears that BP repeatedly chose risky procedures in order to reduce costs and save time and made minimal efforts to contain the added risk," the congressmen write.

"If this is what happened, BP's carelessness and complacency have inflicted a heavy toll on the Gulf, its inhabitants, and the workers on the rig," they say.

350p not for long, cynic.

Looks like BP has a lot of explaining to do, taking shortcuts killing its rig workers and causing a huge disaster. And 350p has shown no support now. Broken through easily.

thanks for that heads up leo ..... just shorted again at 349.8

Cynic - that news was out sometime ago - when the price was @356 :-)