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?

2nd Quarter Results

The reported post-tax result of $2.7 billion for the quarter was adversely affected by:

· lower oil prices;
· an unusually high underlying effective tax rate of 45%, compared to 35% a year earlier, largely due to the impact of the stronger dollar on a basket of currencies; and
· lower post-tax income from Russia, driven by rouble depreciation and the lagging effect of Russian oil export duty, which has a disproportionate effect in periods of falling prices.

Early birds :-

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Buy 451.45 451.45 540.00 530.00 Reiterates

Morgan Stanley Underweight 451.45 451.45 452.00 452.00 Reiterates

Credit Suisse Neutral 451.45 451.45 485.00 475.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Buy 451.43 451.45 500.00 500.00 Reiterates

Societe Generale Hold 453.68 500.00 490.00 Retains

BP sues U.S. government over contract suspensions after oil spill

NEW YORK | Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:02am BST
(Reuters) - BP Plc is suing the U.S. government for barring the British oil giant from obtaining new federal contracts after the company pleaded guilty to charges related to the 2010 rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in southern Texas, claims keeping the ban in place risks causing the company "irreparable harm."

Trying a wee punt here on the spreads long @ 447.0 tight stop, due a bounce?

BP tells court it did not dither in response to U.S. Gulf spill

NEW ORLEANS | Wed Oct 2, 2013 3:19am BST
(Reuters) - BP Plc unnecessarily delayed the capping of its Macondo well and worsened the extent of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill through dithering and indecision, according to allegations by plaintiffs' lawyers on Tuesday that the British company denied.

In the second phase of a trial in New Orleans over billions of dollars in potential fines, lawyers for the plaintiffs - the U.S. government, Gulf states and former contractors Transocean and Halliburton Co - also sought to show BP's estimates of the size of the leak were unsubstantiated and caused delays by complicating efforts to cap the well.

BP wins reprieve over Gulf spill payouts - U.S. appeals court

Thu Oct 3, 2013 4:00am BST
(Reuters) - BP Plc won a legal reprieve in its effort to force the administrator of a settlement related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to tighten standards in assessing claims, potentially sparing the oil company billions of dollars of extra costs.

A divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday directed U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who in March had approved administrator Patrick Juneau's evaluation methods, to take a fresh look at which claims are legitimate.

BP statement re ruling by US Court of Appeals

This statement was issued late yesterday (2 October 2013) in the US.

BP statement re: ruling by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.


BP is extremely pleased with today's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit setting aside the claims administrator's interpretation of the business economic loss framework in the settlement agreement BP reached with the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee last year. Today's ruling affirms what BP has been saying since the beginning: claimants should not be paid for fictitious or wholly non-existent losses. We are gratified that the systematic payment of such claims by the claims administrator must now come to an end.

As part of today's decision, the Fifth Circuit has also reversed the District Court's denial of BP's motion for a preliminary injunction staying the payment of business economic loss claims under the agreement. The Fifth Circuit has ordered the District Court to "expeditiously craft" an injunction that stays payments to people who did not suffer "actual injury traceable to loss from the Deepwater Horizon accident" until the matter is "fully heard and decided through the judicial process."

The Fifth Circuit has remanded the matter for further proceedings in the District Court.

BP is assessing the further implications of the Fifth Circuit's decision and will issue an additional statement in due course

Beaufort Securities Buy 438.70 - - Upgrades

Deutsche Bank Buy 438.70 500.00 500.00 Reiterates

BP spars with U.S. government over size of Gulf of Mexico spill

NEW ORLEANS | Tue Oct 8, 2013 1:05am BST
(Reuters) - Lawyers for BP Plc and the federal government sparred on Monday over the methods competing teams of scientists used to estimate the size of the company's 2010 oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will use evidence presented during the next 12 days of trial to determine the total amount of oil that gushed into the Gulf for 87 days after the Macondo well blew out. Potential fines under the Clean Water Act could top $17 billion (10.5 billion pounds), an amount close to BP's annualized profits as of last quarter.

Halliburton manager pleads guilty to destroying Gulf spill evidence

NEW ORLEANS | Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:22pm BST
(Reuters) - A Halliburton Co manager formally pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on Tuesday to destroying evidence in connection with the oilfield services company's role in the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

The plea by Anthony Badalamenti, former cementing technology director, was submitted a month after Halliburton also pleaded guilty to similar charges over the deletion of computer simulations of the stability of the ill-fated Macondo well.

Halliburton provided cementing services for BP at the Macondo drilling operation - including the placement of "centralizers," or huge plugs, at various points in piping as it was placed inside the drilled well. Centralizers help ensure cement properly seals a well.

Exane BNP Paribas Outperform 441.95 550.00 550.00 Reiterates

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Buy 441.95 530.00 530.00 Reiterates

QTR 3 results Tuesday 29th October

3rd Quarter Results

· BP's third-quarter replacement cost (RC) profit was $3,178 million, compared with $4,534 million a year ago. After adjusting for a net charge for non-operating items of $522 million and net favourable fair value accounting effects of $8 million (both on a post-tax basis), underlying RC profit for the third quarter was $3,692 million, compared with $5,017 million for the same period in 2012. For the nine months, RC profit was $22,174 million, compared with $9,419 million a year ago. After adjusting for a net gain for non-operating items of $11,536 million and net favourable fair value accounting effects of $19 million (both on a post-tax basis), underlying RC profit for the nine months was $10,619 million, compared with $13,219 million for the same period last year. RC profit or loss for the group, underlying RC profit or loss and fair value accounting effects are non-GAAP measures and further information is provided on pages 3, 19 and 21.

· All amounts relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have been treated as non-operating items, with a net adverse impact on a pre-tax basis of $39 million for the quarter and $280 million for the nine months. For further information on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and its consequences, including information on utilization of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust fund, see page 12 and Note 2 on pages 25 - 30. Information on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is also included in Legal proceedings on pages 35 - 37.

· Including the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter and nine months was $6.3 billion and $15.7 billion respectively, compared with $6.2 billion and $14.1 billion in the same periods of 2012. Excluding amounts related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, net cash provided by operating activities for the third quarter and nine months was $6.3 billion and $15.9 billion respectively, compared with $6.4 billion and $17.1 billion in the same periods last year.

· Net debt at the end of the quarter was $20.1 billion, compared with $31.3 billion a year ago. The ratio of net debt to net debt plus equity at the end of the quarter was 13.3% compared with 20.9% a year ago. Net debt and the ratio of net debt to net debt plus equity are non-GAAP measures. See page 4 for more information.

· Total capital expenditure for the third quarter was $5.9 billion, all of which was organic(d). For the nine months, total capital expenditure was $29.4 billion (including the Rosneft transaction), of which organic capital expenditure was $17.5 billion. Organic capital expenditure for the full year 2013 is expected to be $24 - $25 billion with a similar level of expenditure expected in 2014. Organic capital expenditure through 2020 is expected to be $24 - $27 billion per annum. Disposal proceeds received in cash were $0.4 billion for the quarter and $21.6 billion for the nine months. BP intends to continue to focus its global business portfolio around key assets and strategic strengths, and, as a result, expects to divest a further $10 billion of assets before the end of 2015. Post-tax proceeds from these divestments are expected to be used predominantly for additional distributions to shareholders, with a bias for share buybacks.

· BP today announced a quarterly dividend of 9.5 cents per ordinary share ($0.57 per ADS), which is expected to be paid on 20 December 2013. The corresponding amount in sterling will be announced on 9 December 2013. See page 4 for further information. Moving forward, BP's board intends to review the level of dividend with the first and the third quarter results each year.

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Looking for another assault on 480p.

Prime Markets Buy 473.43 500.00 500.00 Reiterates

Investec Hold 473.43 440.00 440.00 Retains

Merrill Lynch note today:
"BP has reported a healthy set of 3Q13 results, with adjusted net income coming in 16% ahead of the consensus (US$3.7bn vs. consensus of US$3.2bn). At the operating level, adjusted operating profit of US$5.8bn was 10% ahead of the consensus (US$5.8bn vs consensus at U$5.3bn). BP also announced a 6% increase in its quarterly dividend, from US$0.09/share to US$0.095/share. Following this morning’s release, we expect consensus EPS estimates for 2013 to rise 2 to 3%.
Relative to the consensus and our expectations, BP’s results were strong across the board, with every reporting line coming ahead of expectations. IN particular, the Key sources of the beat were: (1) Rosenft, where stronger netbacks saw an 11% beat relative to consensus; (2) the corporate and other line, which benefitted from lower corporate costs and (3) a positive consolidation adjustment (a nonforecastable item to account for intercompany oil sales between the upstream and downstream). The core upstream and downstream divisions were in line with expectations, coming in 1% & 2% ahead of the consensus respectively
BP indicated that 4Q production will be in line 3Q; a touch disappointing relative to our expectations. Further, 4Q costs are expected to increase relative to 3Q owing to one off tax benefits enjoyed in 3Q.
BP’s provisions for the Macondo incident were US$42.5bn, a US$0.4bn decrease relative to 2Q13 (relating to the favourable ruling gained relating to the PSC). We find it encouraging that further material provisions were not incurred during the quarter.
Whilst BP’s dividend hike to US$0.095/share represented a minor shortfall relative to our US$0.1/share forecast (significantly above consensus, which was not expecting an increase), BP has indicated it will now be reviewing the dividend Bi annually (in 1Q and 3Q), giving scope for further increases in the coming quarters.
Despite uncertainties regarding the ultimate cost of the Macondo incident, BP remains our preferred name amongst the European majors (i.e. vs. RD Shell and Total), a view underpinned by: (1)The company’s underappreciated cash flow growth outlook driven by a compelling margin expansion strategy and capital discipline, (2)Sector leading dividend growth (3) An underappreciated growth/value creation story in Russia; (4)Our expectation that the long running Macondo saga will affect cash generation less acutely than the market thinks, and (5) A valuation gap (21% discount to peers on ’14E P/E) which we believe is increasingly unjustified."

Full list of today's broker recs.

Societe Generale Buy 488.25 490.00 530.00 Upgrades

Investec Hold 488.25 440.00 460.00 Retains

RBC Capital Markets Sector Performer 488.25 530.00 530.00 Reiterates

Exane BNP Paribas Outperform 488.25 550.00 550.00 Reiterates

Goldman Sachs Neutral 488.25 450.00 440.00 Reiterates

Macquarie Outperform 488.25 - 550.00 Retains

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 488.25 515.00 540.00 Reiterates

Barclays Capital Underweight 488.25 485.00 485.00 Reiterates


Bank of America Merrill Lynch Buy 488.25 530.00 530.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Buy 488.25 500.00 520.00 Reiterates

StockMarketWire.com
BP has confirmed a significant oil discovery at its Gila prospect, which it co-owns with ConocoPhillips, in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico.

This is BP's third discovery in recent years in the emerging Paleogene trend in the Gulf of Mexico and reflects the company's ongoing commitment to the US offshore region. BP has previously announced two other Paleogene discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico - Kaskida in 2006 and Tiber in 2009.

The Gila discovery was made by an exploration well on Keathley Canyon Block 93, about 300 miles southwest of New Orleans, in approximately 4,900 feet of water. The well, which penetrated multiple Paleogene-aged reservoir sands, was drilled to a total depth of 29,221 feet.

Appraisal drilling, including completion of drilling through the Paleocene section, will be required to determine the size and potential commerciality of the discovery. Regional president of BP's Gulf of Mexico business, Richard Morrison, said: "The Gila discovery is a further sign that momentum is returning to BP's drilling operations and well execution in the Gulf of Mexico."