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?

BP: Collecting 2,000 Bbl Of Oil/Day; Costs Reaches $625 Million
LONDON (Dow Jones)

BP PLC (BP) Tuesday said it was collecting an estimated 2,000 barrels of oil a day from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and put its total response costs so far at $625 million.

"It is expected that it will take some time to increase the flow through the system and maximise the proportion of oil and gas flowing through the broken riser that will be captured and transported to the drillship" on the surface, BP said in a statement.

On Monday the oil major estimated it was collecting 1,000 barrels of approximately 5,000 leakinginto coastal waters following an explosion on an off-shore drilling platform.

The company is also progressing with other options to stem the flow of oil, including plugging the leak with in a so-called "junk shot."

Costs meanwhile continue to escalate. The oil major on Thursday said it had racked up $450 million in expenses.

The $650 million in costs it announced Tuesday include grants to Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to help mitigate the economic impact of the oil spill, as well as containment, relief well drilling, settlements and federal costs, BP said.

2nd UPDATE: US Is Sued Over BP's Gulf Coast Drilling Permit
(Updates with comment from MMS spokeswoman in fourth paragraph.)


By Cassandra Sweet
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Environmental groups sued the U.S. government Tuesday, alleging regulators excused BP PLC (BP) from complying with safety regulations that may have helped prevent the rig explosion and sinking that unleashed a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the Sierra Club and the Gulf Restoration Network allege the Minerals Management Service issued deepwater oil-drilling permits to BP and other companies without requiring "oil-spill response plans" and "blowout scenarios" typically required to show companies can handle drilling accidents. The complaint adds to a growing chorus of criticism that the MMS, a unit of the Department of the Interior, took an increasingly hands-off approach in its regulation of the oil industry. In separate suits, environmental groups alleged MMS illegally excluded exploratory drilling operations from certain environmental laws.

The suit notes a letter sent April 1, 2008, to BP and other companies from MMS Regional Director Lars Herbst called a "Notice to Lessees." According to a copy provided by a plaintiffs' attorney, the notice informs drilling-permit applicants that they don't need to provide blowout scenarios or oil-spill response plans to the MMS unless they plan to operate off the coasts of Florida or Texas, off a specially protected part of the Louisiana coast, or plan to install an underwater "surface facility."

MMS spokeswoman Eileen Angelico wrote in an email that the agency doesn't comment on pending lawsuits, but that Interior officials are working to "review and strengthen Outer Continental Shelf safety and improve overall management, regulation, and oversight of OCS operations."

The Obama administration said earlier this month it plans to restructure the MMS and beef up the agency's oversight of oil-drilling operations.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they discovered the notice after the accident and leak, in an effort to find out more about BP's contingency plans in the event of an oil spill. The notice "effectively repealed" most oil-spill safety requirements for BP's drilling plan and other exploratory drilling operations that are "most at risk for blowouts," the lawsuit says.

"I looked at these exploratory plans approved by the Minerals Management Service and it was just heart-stopping because there's just nothing there," David Guest, an attorney with Earthjustice, said in an interview. "I think this represents a philosophy that the industry will regulate itself."

BP reported progress in reducing the flow of oil from the leak earlier Tuesday, saying a tube inserted into the leaking oil pipe is now siphoning about 2,000 barrels a day of oil to a ship on the surface. While damage on shore from the growing oil slick emanating from the mile-deep leak has so far been limited, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday that ocean currents could move the oil into the Atlantic via the Gulf Stream.

UPDATE ON GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL RESPONSE

BP today provided an update on developments in the response to the MC252 oil
well incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

Subsea Source Control and Containment

Subsea efforts continue to focus on progressing options to stop the flow of oil
from the well through interventions via the blow out preventer (BOP), and to
collect the flow of oil from the leak points. These efforts are being carried
out in conjunction with governmental authorities and other industry experts.

The volume of oil and gas being collected by the riser insertion tube tool
(RITT) containment system at the end of the leaking riser is estimated to be
about 3,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil and some 14 million standard cubic feet a
day of gas. The oil is being stored and gas is being flared on the drillship
Discoverer Enterprise, on the surface 5,000 feet above.

This remains a new technology and both its continued operation and its
effectiveness in capturing the oil and gas remain uncertain.

BP also continues to develop options to shut off the flow of oil from the well
through interventions via the failed BOP.

Plans continue to develop a so called "top kill" operation where heavy drilling
fluids are injected into the well to stem the flow of oil and gas, followed by
cement to seal the well. Most of the equipment is on site and preparations
continue for this operation, with a view to deployment in the next few days.
Options have also been developed to potentially combine this with the injection
under pressure of a variety of materials into the BOP to seal off upward flow.

Work on the first relief well, which began on May 2, continues. The DDII
drilling rig began drilling the second relief well on May 16. Each of these
wells is estimated to take some three months to complete from the commencement
of drilling.




Surface Spill Response and Containment

Work continues to collect and disperse oil that has reached the surface of the
sea. Over 930 vessels are involved in the response effort, including skimmers,
tugs, barges and recovery vessels.

Intensive operations to skim oil from the surface of the water have now
recovered, in total, some 187,000 barrels (7.8 million gallons) of oily liquid.
The total length of boom deployed as part of efforts to prevent oil reaching the
coast is now more than 1.9 million feet, including over 500,000 feet of sorbent
boom.

In total over 19,000 personnel from BP, other companies and government agencies
are currently involved in the response to this incident. So far about 19,000
claims have been filed, and some 8,000 payments have been made.
----

Dropping steadily, be below 5.00 back end next week.

IMHO BP will bounce back soon. Many stocks pounded in the last few days Great entry point now.

Falling Knife, still a lot more to give - especially when the enviro-mentalists start. All the lies about how much Oil is being spilled everyday and the cost of clean up 3 times what they claimed already,, plus the quarter of a million claims (to start with !) - It dont look rosy for the old BP shares

Tony Craze paid over 550p for these.

Think It should have read below 4.00 - post 34 -37 Biggest Bankruptcy since Rolls Royce this one will be.

Obama To Extend Moratorium On Deepwater Offshore Drilling By 6 Months
WASHINGTON (AFP)--President Barack Obama will Thursday extend a moratorium on new deepwater drilling for six months, and unveil a major curtailment of the offshore oil industry, after a review of the Gulf disaster.

The president will also announce that planned exploration off the Alaska coast in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas will be delayed pending a presidential commission into deepwater offshore drilling, a White House aide said.

In addition, a planned August lease sale of drilling rights in the Western Gulf will be cancelled and a lease sale off the coast of Virginia will also be scotched, due to environmental concerns and Defense Department input.

The aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Obama would also announce standards to "strengthen oversight of the industry and enhance safety," pending the recommendations of the presidential commission.

Obama, who will formally announce the steps in a White House news conference later Thursday, was briefed on the initial report into the disaster by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in the Oval Office on Wednesday night.

The president will announce the new restrictions on the industry as BP presses ahead with a "top kill" operation designed to finally plug the ruptured well that is gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico in an environmental disaster.

"While the Commission performs its work to determine how to prevent this from ever happening again, the moratorium on permits to drill new deepwater wells will continue for a period of six months," the aide said.

The measures represent a partial reversal of a controversial Obama plan to expand offshore oil drilling announced at the end of March, which angered green groups and spurred charges by Republicans that it did not go far enough.

The president's plan, part of a comprehensive energy strategy, was to have seen new tracts of the Atlantic off the Virginia coast opened to exploration, and expanded prospecting leases in the Gulf off the coast of Florida.

Scientific research in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas was also to be authorized.

"In the short term, as we transition to cleaner energy sources, we'll have to make tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development in ways that protect communities and coastlines," Obama said in March.

He portrayed the decision as part of a comprehensive energy plan, designed to wean the United States off foreign energy sources from volatile areas, and develop a new green economy.

The measures were seen by some observers at the time as a political move, designed to win some Republican support for a comprehensive climate change and energy bill in the Senate.

Republicans, who have marched in lock step to oppose almost all of Obama's domestic agenda, backed wider exploration of untapped US reserves, and adopted a "Drill, baby, drill," mantra during the 2008 presidential campaign.

The measures unveiled in March reversed a campaign pledge Obama made in 2008, when he said that the amount of time it would take to produce large amounts of offshore oil did not justify the risks of extracting it.

Watch it bounce up as soon as well is capped.

EU To Review Offshore Drilling Rules In Wake Of BP Spill
BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)

The European Commission plans to review its legislation covering offshore drilling in light of the massive oil caused by an explosion at BP PLC's (BP) Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, it said Thursday.

Guenther Oettinger, the European Union's energy commissioner, recently met oil and gas industry executives, who were asked to name a contact person in case of emergency. Oettinger presented a list of questions about the issue that should be answered in the coming weeks.

Once the causes of the BP accident are known "the European Union will be in a position to determine whether any specific targeted measures need to be taken," Oettinger said in a statement.

"In the meantime, the commission will review the existing legislation applicable to critical situations in the oil and gas production and will get in contact with the national regulators in order to establish a closer partnership with them," he said.

Offshore drillers are subject to a web of national and EU laws. The EU laws involved set minimum industrial safety standards and procedures for environmental reviews and cleanups if a spill occurs.

Oil Rig Workers To Criticize Transocean In US House Hearing
By Brent Kendall
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)

Two Transocean Ltd. (RIG) workers who were aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig when it exploded are preparing to tell a U.S. House of Representatives committee there were safety issues with the rig before the disaster.

In prepared written testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Douglas Harold Brown, the chief mechanic and acting second engineer on the rig, said there was a "progressive problem" on the rig with downsizing the number of crew members assigned to the engine room.

"Because of the cuts in the number of engine room personnel, we were often days, weeks and even months behind in completing the necessary preventative maintenance requirements," Brown said.

Brown described the scene on the rig in the wake of the explosion: "People were crying and screaming that they did not want to die; there was confusion and panic everywhere."

Brown, who suffered leg injuries, was treated at a local hospital and then taken to a hotel where, he said, "I was then immediately taken to a room and interrogated by two lawyers from Transocean in front of a court reporter."

Stephen Stone, a general laborer on the rig, said in written testimony that the blowout of the well "was hardly the first thing to go wrong."

Stone said the rig employees had to pump down a heavy-duty sealant compound four times in 20 days to seal cracks in the underground formation.

Stone said after the blast a Transocean representative asked him to sign a document saying he was not injured in order to obtain $5,000 for the loss of his personal possessions.

"I never would have expected for my company to treat me like a criminal after I had survived such a disaster by making me submit to a drug test, and they try to tempt or trick me into giving up my legal rights by signing forms without a lawyer present," he said.

Thursday's hearing, which will examine legal liability issues surrounding the disaster, will feature 11 witnesses, including representatives from BP PLC (BP, BP.LN), Transocean, Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Cameron International Corp. (CAM).

UPDATE:Interior Secretary: MMS Chief Resigned 'Of Her Own Volition'
(Updates to add quote from Rep. Moran, more background on Birnbaum)

By Siobhan Hughes
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)

Minerals Management Service Director Liz Birnbaum has resigned as a vast Gulf of Mexico oil spill puts growing scrutiny on the agency's oversight of offshore drilling.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that Birnbaum had resigned. He made the disclosure at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. He said she resigned "of her own volition."

Birnbaum had headed the Interior Department's MMS since July. Her role at the agency has been uncertain since the Interior Secretary announced that he would break up the MMS into three parts, an arrangement that would eliminate her position.

Birnbaum's departure was abrupt. She had been scheduled to appear alongside Salazar at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. Committee staff had circulated her biography. And the House Energy and Commerce Committee had expected Birnbaum to testify later Thursday.

The departure comes as the agency takes fire for leaving safety oversight up to the industry it oversees. An inspector general report released earlier this week found that employees in the Lake Charles, Louisiana, office fraternized with oil-company workers, accepting sporting event tickets, lunches, and other gifts from oil and natural gas companies.

"I don't for a moment personally blame Birnbaum because she's not a part of that culture," said Rep. Jim Moran (D., Va.), who oversees a House subcommittee that funds the Interior Department. "I trust that no one--particularly people who are not responsible--are going to be scapegoated."

UPDATE: BP Top Kill Process May Last 2 More Days - CEO
LONDON (Dow Jones)

BP PLC (BP) may continue for two more days its 'top kill' process to seal a leaky well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, but complete success isn't guaranteed, Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in an email to staff Friday.

The company temporarily stopped the flow of hydrocarbons while it was pumping drilling mud at high pressure earlier this week, but pressure from the well pushed back out into the ocean a combination of oil, gas and drilling fluid when the pumping stopped.

Nobody was available for comment at BP.

In his email, Hayward said that during the course of its initial 'top kill' operations, BP showed it could "successfully pump heavy drilling fluids [mud] into the well.

"These operations continue and...the procedure could extend for a further 24 to 48 hours," he said. "Its ultimate success is uncertain."

Hayward said BP continues to plan for alternatives if this "option doesn't work out" and "preparations are underway for the possible deployment of the lower marine riser package containment system.

"I hope to be able to let you know the outcome of these operations in the next day or two," he said.

Hole now capped according to Bloomberg jew times. Waiting to see if it holds.

You might want to edit that Clubman before you get a serious objection.

Do you not agree with the news

You want to be cute, fair enough, but what have the origins of the founders got to do with BP news?
In answer to your question, Reuters has only "BP reported some progress on Friday in its struggle to shut off its gushing deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil well". Not yet seen a Bloomberg update.

Bloomberg reported online radio well capped, but you know what they are like for lying I will wait until I read it in the Sun newspaper, about as reliable

we now know that this latest attempt has failed too .... that being so, sp must assuredly have much more downside in store

almost as an aside, though it really lives on a more generalised thread, now that US is banning deep-sea exploration and drilling in all probability for the next several years, surely those companies who now have significant proven reserves will become even more important targets for predators.