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, private plaintiffs settle over Gulf oil spill

(Reuters) - BP Plc on Wednesday said it has reached definitive agreements with well over 100,000 private plaintiffs to resolve claims for economic, property and medical damages resulting from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BP.L&ql=0

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Shares of BP PLC UK:BP -1.13% BP -1.62% fell over 2% in London on Friday after an audit by the U.S. Department of Justice found the oil major owes an additional $64 million in payments related to the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. ....


Interesting point is that, BP market cap fell over £1.5bln on the news about £40mln cost.

BP FIRST QUARTER 2012 RESULTS

Canaccord note:
"We are raising BP from Hold to Buy, in a sector report published today. We think the shares’ weakness – notably a return to near post-Macondo lows vs the US majors – leaves valuations discounting very little upturn in BP fortunes. We are not convinced of the strength of BP’s longer-term growth, but see a strong recovery in 2013-14. Meanwhile, we think current sentiment leaves room for good upside in the case of material progress on issues such as a US settlement over fines, or further disposals. We have been cautious on the integrated oils for the past few months, but after the European sector’s 7% underperformance YTD we see a much better risk/reward balance. In particular, 1) sector valuations are looking increasingly attractive to us, with 47% average upside to our SoP values, and 2) we are much more comfortable on downside risks with Brent having pulled back below $110/b.
Operationally, we expect E&P results to continue to weaken in the short term due to high summer maintenance, but this has now been well flagged and we think 4Q12 could mark the start of a more visible upstream recovery. Meanwhile, near-term results could see solid support from the sharp recovery seen in refining margins, notably in the US where BP has a large proportion of its capacity. After a weak 2012, we see a bounce in E&P volumes of 4-5%pa (ex TNK-BP) in 2013-14, with a significant boost to average margins. Thereafter, we think the longer-term outlook is one of limited volume growth (sub-1% pa) and much higher capex, albeit with good potential for exploration catalysts. While this makes us somewhat cautious on the shares’ long term prospects, we think they could perform well on a 6-12 month view.
We see 44% upside to our SoP estimate, which is close to the sector average, and a 2013E EV/DACF multiple only slightly above average. BP still has the uncertainty over Macondo, but we think this is an attractive valuation for a European oil stock with limited Eurozone exposure. We forecast a prospective dividend yield of 5.2% for FY12 and 5.7% for FY13E, with a 2013-14 free cash yield of 7.5-8%.
We see main potential catalysts as: 1) any progress on settlement in the US over Macondo fines, 2) material further disposals ($15bn remains vs target) and 3) signs of E&P performance bottoming. TNK-BP remains one of the key risks in our view.

Didn't they raise HSBA to 600p last week?

BP NOTIFIES PARTNERS OF ITS INTENTION TO PURSUE
A POTENTIAL SALE OF ITS INTEREST IN TNK-BP


BP announced today that it has received unsolicited indications of interest regarding the potential acquisition of its shareholding in TNK-BP.

In light of these unsolicited approaches and consistent with its commitment to maximising shareholder value, and its obligations under the Shareholder Agreement, BP has notified Alfa Access Renova of its intention to pursue a potential sale.

There can be no guarantee that any transaction will take place.

A further announcement will be made when and if appropriate.

TNK-BP: a frosty relationship that failed to thaw
Basic disagreement between BP and its partners about the purpose of their Russian joint venture has led to the sale move, says Emily Gosden.


BP's board took the final, unanimous decision to try to sell its stake in TNK-BP late on Thursday afternoon, at the British oil major’s headquarters in London’s St James’s.

But for many months, its management had been coming to the conclusion that, after years of bitter public disputes with its oligarch partners, the writing was finally on the wall for its troubled Russian joint venture.

Relations with the Alfa-Access-Renova consortium – headed by Mikhail Fridman, Len Blavatnik, Viktor Vekselberg and German Khan – had reached stalemate on both corporate governance and day-to-day management.

According to a source close to AAR, at the heart of the problem was a fundamental disagreement over the purpose of the venture. “BP view TNK-BP as a Russian subsidiary, AAR view it an oil company with global ambitions. The latter implied it would be a competitor to BP.”

That same dispute over the oligarchs’ ambitions for international expansion was behind the dramatic showdown that saw Bob Dudley – then chief executive of TNK-BP, now chief executive of BP – hounded out of Russia in 2008.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/9307017/TNK-BP-a-frosty-relationship-that-failed-to-thaw.html

I wonder if it might be worth having a stake in this now as it seems a good possibility that some of the money from the proposed sale of TNK-BP will be returned to shareholders? Sub 400p doesn't seem such a bad entry point.

Agree HC, also possibility of a takeover if tank/bp goes. Bought a few last week.

Some words of caution chaps, BP may get a V. heavy fine for their part in the oil spill in the U.S. at some stage.

Duly noted Stan, though I think that is a way off and will be subject to countless appeals. I am hoping the TNK situation will have been sorted by then.

Thanks also for the heads up on the possible fine. If that were to come to a satisfactory solution for BP, I could see £6+ a share. So looking at this for a medium term hold in my SIPP, and collecting the divis along the way. This approach and the TNK/BPissue, plus the change/speculation of a takeover make the current price a reasonable entry point in my view, H

BP TO SELL INTERESTS IN TWO NORTH SEA FIELDS

BP announced today that it has agreed to sell its interests in the Alba and Britannia fields in the UK North Sea to Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ('Mitsui') for $280m in cash.

The sale comprises BP's non-operating 13.3% stake in Alba and 8.97% stake in Britannia. Completion of the deal is anticipated by the end of Q3 2012, subject to regulatory and other licensee approvals.

The agreement is a further example of BP's active management of its business portfolio in the North Sea, focusing on core activities and future growth.

Barclays note:
"BP will announce 2Q results on 31 July. Marking to market for the quarter we estimate net income at $4.6bn. This will be 18% lower y/y and 5% lower q/q and is primarily a reflection of a Brent oil price in 2Q 2012 nearly $10/bl lower both y/y and q/q. BP has also undertaken routine maintenance at some of its high margin Gulf of Mexico fields in the US, which will further reduce upstream profitability. The downstream is set to provide some offset to this with windfall earnings given the rapid fall in input pricing but is still not enough to generate positive earnings momentum. BP’s shares have performed broadly in-line with the sector since the start of the year and we continue to see strategic challenges for the group given the continued uncertainties in Russia and the shadow of a potential Macondo trial. We rate the shares 3-Underweight.

Upstream – falling prices and high-margin maintenance: With its 1Q results in May BP indicated that 2Q volumes would be lower and costs higher given normal seasonal turnarounds concentrated on the high-margin production in the Gulf of Mexico. In previous years this seasonal swing has been c155kb/d, and assuming a similar swing this quarter we expect production of 3.28m boe/d for 2Q (5.8kcf=1boe). This is down 3% y/y and 4% q/q. The combination of the weaker Brent and Henry Hub marker prices should have seen a near $950m deterioration in upstream operating profits over the quarter. However, given the high-margin barrels lost through maintenance together with the normal lag in taxation in Russia we expect the overall fall to be greater than indicator pricing would suggest. As a result we are looking for Upstream profits at $6.15bn.

Downstream – a better quarter: According to BP’s website the group’s RMM (refinery marker margin) averaged $15.82/bl in 2Q. This compares to $11.6/bl in 4Q and $13.9/bl in 2Q 2011. Based on the company rules of thumb this would suggest an improvement in profitability of c$700m. Although marketing is likely to have benefited from a parachute effect of the falling oil price, we would expect some of this to be offset by adverse exchange rate moves, maintenance in the US and the continued weak trading conditions in chemicals. We are looking for $1.5 bn of R&M operating profit for 2Q, up 67% on 1Q and 11% on year ago levels.

"Rosneft eyes BP’s stake in TNK-BP
By Charles Clover and Courtney Weaver in Moscow
Russia state oil company Rosneft announced its interest in acquiring oil major BP’s 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture, in a move that could shake up Russia’s oil industry and increase Rosneft’s already hegemonic role.
Igor Sechin, president of Rosneft made the announcement on Tuesday. “Rosneft … considers the potential acquisition of BP’s participation in TNK-BP to be an attractive commercial proposition” Mr Sechin said in a prepared statement. “The potential acquisition would complement its existing portfolio and create value for all stakeholders.”
Mr Sechin seemed to indicate that were Rosneft to acquire the stake it would open up exploration opportunities which private companies have had limited access to in Russia for some time, such as lucrative fields in east Siberia.
“Rosneft believes there are considerable synergies to be gained in eastern Siberian upstream, gas development, crude and product logistics optimisation and other areas,” he said.

Nomura note:
"We expect the initial reaction for BP shares today to be positive, particularly given the nature of the Rosneft statement – at the time of writing, TNK-BP shares had risen 7%. However, the critical questions remain price, payment and timing for any deal BP makes in Russia. A number of options remain for BP. Nonetheless, it’s been made clear the status quo will not remain nor that BP will become a minority partner with Alfa. We also increasingly believe a vanilla cash transaction with one of the Russian NOCs is unlikely, with the potential for a share swap or asset deal perhaps put on the table. We note that Rosneft held USD 3.5bn of unrestricted cash and a net debt/equity ratio of 20% at the end of Q1 12. Our current valuation of BP’s share of TNK-BP is USD 27bn (c.90p/share) in a sum-of-parts of 553p. BP has not yet made a statement and we expect further colour from management either with the Q2 results next week (31 July) or earlier.
We maintain a Neutral rating on BP – on Russia, our conclusions are that negotiations will take time and that newsflow is likely to be both positive and negative before a clearer picture of what BP’s role there will be and what cash they may be able to monetise."

BP SECOND QUARTER 2012 RESULTS

Second quarter and half year 2012(a)

BP profits fall sharply after it cuts asset values

Oil giant BP has reported a sharp fall in profits in the second quarter of the year after it had to cut the value of a number of its key assets.

The company made a replacement cost profit - which strips out the effect of oil price movements - of $238m (£151m) in the April to June quarter.

This compares with a profit of $5.4bn a year earlier.

BP said it had to cut the value of its US shale gas assets and a number of its refineries.

It said its profits were also reduced by the decision to suspend its Liberty offshore oil project in Alaska.

BP chief executive Bob Dudley said: "We recognise this was a weak earnings quarter, driven by a combination of factors affecting both the sector and BP specifically."

DCC to buy BP's UK LPG business

BP announced today that DCC plc, the sales, marketing, distribution and business support services group, has agreed to buy its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution business in the UK.

BP is retaining its automotive LPG business which will move into BP's UK Fuels Value Chain, which runs the company's fuels business including service stations.

The total consideration payable by DCC is $63m (£40.5 m) on a cash free/debt free basis, to be satisfied in cash at completion.

BP TO SELL TEXAS MIDSTREAM GAS ASSETS


BP America Production Company announced today that it has agreed to sell its Sunray and Hemphill gas processing plants in Texas, together with their associated gas gathering system, to Eagle Rock Energy Partners for $227.5 million in cash.

The Sunray plant, in Moore County, and the Hemphill plant, in Hemphill County, have combined processing capacity of approximately 220 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcf/d) and an associated gathering system of around 2,500 miles of pipelines.

BP believes these assets, which serve BP's natural gas production in the Texas Panhandle region, will be more strategically valuable to a company that specializes in midstream oil and gas operations. The agreement does not include BP's natural gas producing assets in the area.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

BP's North America Gas business has a high quality portfolio of assets with a presence in seven of the leading gas basins in the US Lower 48 states. In 2011, BP produced over 1,800 mmcf/d natural gas in the US. BP's US onshore upstream operations are an integral part of its business, and the company continues to look at opportunities for growth over the long-term.

BP AGREES TO SELL CARSON REFINERY AND ARCO RETAIL NETWORK IN US SOUTHWEST TO TESORO FOR $2.5 BILLION

BP announced today it has reached agreement to sell its Carson, California refinery and related logistics and marketing assets in the region to Tesoro Corporation for $2.5 billion in cash (including the estimated value of hydrocarbon inventories and subject to post-closing adjustments) as part of a previously announced plan to reshape BP's US fuels business.

"Today's announcement is a significant step in the strategic refocusing of our US fuels business," said Iain Conn, chief executive of BP's global refining and marketing business. "Together with the intended sale of Texas City, this will allow us to focus BP's operations and investments exclusively on our three northern US refineries, which are crude feedstock advantaged, and their large and important marketing businesses."