BP dissapointed private investors as the share price slid even though a
Massive 136 percent jump in profits were recorded for the last quarter.
This was already expected and comments from Lord Browne saying falls in oil expected have brought also helped the stock down.
He says can stand oil price even below $16 pb
The hostage situation in Nigeria getting bad maybe BP putting on some weight today?
Locals want enviroment cleaned up and profits shared.
Any chance?

see my post on the other thread!

BP Shares Up 7% In Early London Trade After Spill-Fund Deal
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 17 June 2010
Shares in oil major Bp PLC (BP.LN) traded up 7% in London early Thursday after the company said Wednesday it was suspending dividends and setting aside GBP20 billion to cover claims relating to its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

At 0737 GMT, BP shares were up 6.5%, or 22 pence, at 359 pence.

On Wednesday, BP said it would cancel at least $7.8 billion in dividends, sell off $10 billion in assets and reduce capital expenditure by at least $4 billion as it looks to build up the $20 billion fund over the next 3 1/2 years.

BP struck the agreement with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House amid intense political pressure spurred by a steady stream of oil spewing into the Gulf and washing up on beaches and marshes.

"BP's package agreed with President Obama should cool the politic heat and provide some degree of comfort to equity and bond markets, shareholders and businesses/residents in (the Gulf of Mexico) affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident," Evolution Securities said Thursday in a research note. "The $20 billion claims fund draws a line in the sand (of sorts). It doesn't cap BP's liabilities nor cover fines and penalties but does clarify how BP will settle legitimate claims and cleanup costs."

BP will pay $3 billion into an escrow account in the third quarter of this year and another $2 billion in the fourth quarter. This will be followed by payments of $1.25 billion per quarter until the $20 billion has been paid in, BP said in a statement.

The $10 billion of divestments now planned this year will focus on non-strategic assets in BP's exploration and production division, BP Chief Financial Office Byron Grote said Wednesday.

BP still expects to close its $7 billion purchase of assets in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Canada and Azerbaijan from Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) by the end of this year, Grote said.

BP's shares have almost halved since the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and lead to the oil spill.

Sonatrach Sends Pollution Barriers To Help Counter BP Spill
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 17 June 2010
Sonatrach Wednesday sent floating anti-pollution barriers to protect the U.S. Gulf coast at the request of Bp PLC (BP), the Algerian state oil company said in a statement.

Sonatrach is one of several companies helping the U.K. oil giant to contain the impact of a massive spill that started after an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon platform Apr. 20.

The Algerian oil company has had problems of its own with a corruption probe that led to a management change earlier this year, but it hasn't had a major exploration accident in a long time.

-By Benoit Faucon, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9266; benoit.faucon@dowjones.com

2nd UPDATE: BP Shares Surge After $20 Billion Oil Spill Fund Deal
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 17 June 2010
Shares in U.K.-listed oil giant Bp PLC (BP) jumped as much as 9.8% in London Thursday after the company struck a deal with the Obama administration a day earlier to set aside $20 billion to cover Gulf of Mexico oil spill costs by slashing spending.

At 1130 GMT BP shares were up 7.1%, or 24 pence, at 361p, leading the FTSE 100 index.

Several analysts upgraded the embattled company to a "buy" recommendation, despite BP's promise to cancel at least $7.8 billion in dividends, sell off $10 billion in assets and reduce capital expenditure by at least $4 billion as it looks to build up the $20 billion fund over the next 3 1/2 years. The fund will not cover civil or criminal penalties.

"BP's package agreed with President Obama should cool the political heat and provide some degree of comfort to equity and bond markets, shareholders," said Evolution Securities analyst Richard Griffith.

Gas Negara Official: Interested To Buy Stakes In Tangguh Block
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 17 June 2010
Indonesian state-owned gas distributor and producer PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGAS.JK), or PGN, is interested in acquiring stakes in the Tangguh gas block operated by Bp PLC's (BP) local unit, in order to secure more supply, PGN's Chief Executive said Thursday.

Due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, "they might have financial burdens, so if there's a window of opportunity to acquire stakes in Tangguh, we are interested," Hendi Prio Santoso told reporters.

PGN said in February that it has set aside about IDR3.4 trillion ($370 million) this year to acquire stakes in several gas producers in Indonesia in a bid to meet expected higher future demand.

Santoso said PGN is currently conducting due diligence process for some gas blocks, but didn't elaborate.

Adm. Allen: Could Capture 28,000 B/D Of Oil By Early Next Week
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 17 June 2010
A second vessel is allowing Bp PLC (BP) to contain a bigger portion of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, even as a parallel bid to permanently plug the well moves ahead of schedule, the leader of the U.S. effort to control the spill said Thursday.

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said in a conference call with reporters that the vessel, known as the Q4000, captured 1,200 barrels in the first 12 hours of production on Wednesday, and would add 2,000 to 3,000 barrels a day to the amount captured by the main vessel connected to the mile-deep leak, the Discoverer Enterprise. That would bring the total amount captured to between 16,000 and 17,000 barrels a day.

Allen said that progress was being made in the war against the spill.

"There have been days where we have actually recovered more oil throurgh containment and recovery than what came out" of the well, he said. U.S. authorities estimate the well to be leaking at a rate between 35,000 barrels a day and 60,000 barrels a day.

Allen added that efforts to drill a relief well through which BP would pump cement to plug the leak are progressing "ahead of schedule." The relief well, currently at a depth of more than 9,900 feet below the seafloor, will "come very close to the well very shortly," passing within 10 feet of the main well within a couple of weeks, Allen said.

Allen, however, declined to move the current mid-August target date for the completion of the effort. He added that the relief well must pass beyond the leaking well by 1,000 feet and turn back before intersecting it, a complex operation.

Allen said that BP's plan is underway to increase the capture capacity of the response operation to about 28,000 barrels a day by early next week, 53,000 barrels a day by the end of June, and if required, 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day by the end of July.

Any of you guys want to make an 'opening statement' in the us . It looks like every man and his dog is doing so. What a load of tosh.

It has taken them so long to repeat each others 'statements' that they have run out of fecking time. No wonder why they are skint. Bunch of hot-winded time wasters.
But then, they are Americans.

Interesting switching from Bloomberg to CNBC, when Hayward was interrupted by protestor, Bloombergs commentators remarked he looked cool! CNBC reckoned he smirked! Gobshites the lot of em :o)

Heyward should be allowed to get to work stopping the spill, and not be answering questions to these pricks, with their self motives. What a farce, I see Cynics race is well represented. Ski, Sky, Cohan, Leberman, and so on. It is a legal theatre.

No Irish then ?

aldwickk

The small people were mentioned yesterday, and the yanks took offence.

Watched it for four hours. What a farce, complete waste of time.

Heyward should have just dropped his trousers and let them take turns canning him, no doubt some of the members would have got more satisfaction from this act.

2nd UPDATE: Oil Output Cut Significant If Drilling Moratoriums Spread
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Friday 18 June 2010
Global oil output could fall up to 900,000 barrels a day from projected levels for 2015 if oil producing countries follow the U.S. lead and impose moratoriums on development of new offshore oil reserves, International Energy Agency Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said Friday.

The Paris-based organization is conducting research on the possible impact of the U.S. moratorium and its implications worldwide, Tanaka said.

"If other countries like Angola, Brazil and the North Sea (countries) put on hold new offshore development and there is also one or two years of delay, the impact on global oil output might be 800,000 barrels a day-900,000 barrels a day by 2015," Tanaka told Dow Jones Newswires in the western Japanese city of Fukui, where he will participate in an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group energy ministers' meeting that starts Friday evening.

Although it would represent a mere 1% or so of global oil output, "given that spare oil production capacity is about 6 million barrels a day, (a reduction of) roughly 1 million barrels a day can't be ignored," he said.

Earlier on the day, Australia's Energy Minister Martin Ferguson vowed to act swiftly on the findings of an official investigation into the cause and handling of PTT Exploration & Production PCL's (PTTEP.TH) oil spill last year at the Montara field in the Timor Sea, off northern Australia.

Oil and gas companies began shutting down 33 deepwater exploration rigs last month after U.S. President Barack Obama imposed a six-month moratorium on developing new deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

"There is little near-term impact. But for the medium term, if new offshore oil development in the U.S. is delayed by one or two years, the impact (on production) would be 100,000 barrels a day-300,000 barrels a day by 2015," Tanaka said.

"The ultimate impact is unclear. But it would take time to investigate the causes of the spill and develop appropriate safety requirements and procedures," he said.

The Obama administration wants clear requirements in place before any more drilling proceeds, to avoid another catastrophic spill.

At the three-day APEC meeting, ministers and government officials will discuss energy security, sustainable development of energy resources and the adoption of renewable sources.

BP Russia Head: Co Doesn't Plan To Sell Rosneft Shares
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Friday 18 June 2010
BP PLC (Bp), which intends to raise $10 billion worth by selling off assets in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, isn't planning to divest its stake in Russia's biggest oil producer, OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS), BP's regional head told news agencies Friday.

Speaking the day after Rosneft's stock fell almost 6% on speculation of an imminent sale by BP, David Peattie said the U.K.-based energy company hasn't sold and "isn't planning to" sell its stake.

No dividend payments for three quarters not quite a full year, will still allow big funds to invest BP is on the way back up, before the end of the year Heyward will get the Plat parachute deal and go.

Moody's Downgrades BP Credit Rating; Cites Rising Spill Costs
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Friday 18 June 2010
Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service Friday downgraded Bp PLC's (BP) credit rating three notches as costs and exposure to litigation from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continue to mount.

It is the third major whack at BP's credit rating in recent days.

"Moody's updated assessment is that the spill will have a sustained negative impact on the group's free cash flow generation and overall financial profile for a number of years," the ratings agency said. Moody's lowered BP's senior unsecured ratings to A2 from Aa2.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Thursday lowered its rating on BP by two notches, its second downgrade on the oil giant this month, while Fitch Ratings downgraded BP long-term debt six notches to just above junk level Tuesday.

Moody's said its second downgrade of BP this month reflects a substantial upward revision of the estimated size of the leak, failure to bring the well under control, and the mounting costs and claims for damages.

All BP ratings remain on review for possible further downgrade, Moody's said.

Don't worry unduely about Credit-Rating Agencies - they were happy to rate Banks as Superduper all the while they were being reckless - at least with BP there seems to be situation where a part-british Company has accepted liability, this must be a World record - wow and I suspect the loss of dividend has created a knock-on in investor's minds...but the reality is that even before this spill is stopped it loooks like the detritus is far less than the American anger would lead me to believe. Once the lid is put on this, no-doubt US consumers will fill-up with BP (suitably rebranded) and continue to be the World No1 polluter.
I've not been there, but the TV footage is finding it hard to convince me....that this is a multibillion clean-up. It could be the seas will clean up this mess - nature knows best etc. The "consequential loss" looks like a bonanza for small businesses....
"Now, form an orderly queue, this is a British handout".
+Let's see what the beaches looked like before and wasn't the area suffering falling-tourism as a result of the Banking fiasco?
I hold a few and haven't sold...will BP look favourably on?

hangon you sound like the ostrich,if you bury your head in the sand take care you don't get covered in oil!

SPIEF:US Unlikely To Take Excessive Steps On Oil Spill-Statoil
BP (LSE:BP.)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Friday 18 June 2010
The U.S. authorities are unlikely to take "excessive and unproductive" regulatory measures, following Bp PLC's (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an executive from oil major Statoil Asa (STO) said Friday.

"Once the emotions have settled, I think rational measures will be taken," Peter Mellbye, head of exploration and production at Statoil, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The Norwegian energy company, which produces around 50,000 barrels of oil a day from two wells in the Gulf of Mexico, was affected by the U.S. government's six-month moratorium on drilling and had to stop work on two wells.

Mellbye believes the requirements of the U.S authorities will be adjusted to address the real risks.

"At the end of the day, the U.S. still needs oil and has ambitions to be more self-reliant, so they have to do the right thing and not take excessive and unproductive measures," said Mellbye. "Normally in these cases you find that there was a human error," he added.