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?

In my dreams hey !!! They aint started showing the dead sea-life and birds yet either, be below 3 before it caps the well. And talk of seizing all BP. assets in the U.S wont do much for the share price either. Personally I think its a disgrace - if you aint got the technology to be able avoid a catastrophe like this, you shouldn't be drilling in the first place. Guess we better get ready for a fuel price hike now, so they can claw a few quid back.

sorry, but your final comment is a load of tosh ..... firstly, it is very questionable whether this catastrophe could have been foreseen, though there are unsubstantiated rumours that all was not quite well a few hours before disaster struck

more to the point, it is totally and utterly impossible to work out beforehand, even with CAD how to resolve a disaster such as this ..... as far as everyone knew, the failsafe systems were in place and, as far as possible, proven to be effective ..... however, it seems that a massive methane bubble was struck and came straight up through the apparatus, with such pressure that it could not be withstood

cynic will the gas pressure eventually ease and make it easier to plug the well?

i really have no idea, for though we deal with the off-shore industry, assuredly not in this sort of esoteric and highly specialised field .....

for sure methane is a very light and volatile gas (you know what it's like!), but i don't think that's the problem .... as far as my very amateur eye can tell, though the methane bubble caused the initial blowout, the oil now escaping is doing so under its own pressure, just like the good old-fashioned gushers on land that one used to read or hear about ..... that it's all happening a mile under the sea exacerbates the problem, not least because of the truly huge pressures being exerted

BP market value ('09/'10) : $177,609,000,000 - Turnover: $247,787,000,000 - Net income $17,168,000,000. I agree that it is going to knock them back as the sp is currently being hit badly & still plenty of problems to come. Even if the spill costs them $1bn it is not going to make them go bust. Suspect divi may be cut though.

BP Oil Spill Threatens Wider Coastline as Storm Season Starts

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Oil from the biggest spill in U.S. history could spread this week to threaten the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, according a weather forecast that comes as the Atlantic hurricane season officially starts.

Winds from the southwest are predicted this week, pushing the oil from BP Plcs broken well in the Gulf of Mexico to a wider area of the U.S. coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement on its Website.

Results indicate that oil may move north to threaten the barrier islands off Mississippi and Alabama later in the forecast period, the agency known as NOAA said.

Clear as mud.

Live feeds from remotely operated vehicles (ROV)

BP Shares Plunge 13% On 'Top-Kill' Failure
By Steve Goldstein
Of MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch)-- BP's failed attempt at pouring thousands of barrels of mud to plug the worst oil spill in U.S. waters sent shares of the London-listed oil giant down by 13% in early trade Tuesday.

Tuesday's decline alone wipes GBP10.6 billion ($15.4 billion) off BP's market capitalization, and the stock has lost over a third of its value since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20.

BP (BP) said Tuesday that it is working on deploying a so-called lower marine riser package containment system, but as with other attempts by BP, the system has never been attempted at 5,000 feet under water.

The one solution that seems likely to work -- drilling relief wells -- won't be completed until August.

"This planned multi-step containment strategy is our best option for achieving this as we work hard towards completing the relief wells that will kill this well completely," said Chief Executive Tony Hayward in a statement.

The cost to date of the spill response, relief-well drilling, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs runs to $990 million, BP said.

Analysts estimate billions more in damages and cleanup costs. Given that rivals like Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB.LN) and Total SA (TOT) have dropped by roughly 11% to 15% over the same time frame, roughly $44 billion has been taken off BP's valuation due to the spill.

UPDATE: BP Shares Plunge 14% On 'Top-Kill' Failure

The nearest cleanup comparison would be the Exxon Valdez spill, which is now the second worst in U.S. history.

Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer Research, notes Exxon -- which is now Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) -- originally set aside $5.4 billion to cover legal settlements and paid $3.4 billion in cleanup costs. The Exxon legal settlement was eventually reduced to just $507.5 million with $500 million in interest payments.

Under the Oil Pollution Act passed since the Exxon spill, damages are capped at just $75 million. Even if Congress retroactively boosts that cap to $10 billion, as some analysts are speculating, BP would be on the hook for just $6.5 billion, because it owns 65% of the concession.

That cap on damages goes out the window, however, if BP is shown to be negligent.

BP to promise $10bn payday as criminal inquiry looms

BPs long-term credibility was at stake last night as its chief executive fought to halt a headlong slide in its stock price and the Obama Administration announced a criminal investigation into the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

After losing a third of its value in six weeks, BP is expected to promise shareholders this week that their annual dividend more than $10 billion last year will be maintained.

AT A GLANCE: BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Hits Insurers
THE EVENT: On April 22, the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. (RIG) and leased to BP PLC (BP.LN), sank off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion and fire onboard the rig. Eleven people died from the event. Efforts to stop the oil spill have so far been unsuccessful. More than 12,000 barrels of oil per day are spilling into the ocean, threatening to cause an environmental catastrophe along the U.S. coastline. If containment efforts fail, the crude will likely continue to flow at least until a relief well is completed in August.

GENERAL IMPACT ON INSURERS: As the oil spill continues, insurance claims are also expected to soar and hit insurance and reinsurance companies that cover different aspects of the disaster-- including marine hull, marine liability, general liability, environmental/pollution liability, business interruption, directors' and officers' liability and workers' compensation.

IMPACT ON LLOYD'S OF LONDON INSURERS: Lloyd's of London insurers are expected to fork out between $300 million and $600 million on claims from the Deepwater Horizon explosion, according to the London market, although the figures remain at an early stage as assessing claims continues.

Some of the larger exposures have fallen at the doors of listed insurers Catlin Group Ltd (CGL.LN), Lancashire Holdings Ltd (LRE.LN) and Chaucer Holdings PLC (CHU.LN) with the former forecasting losses of around $40 million and the other two estimating $25 million of losses each.

ANALYST REACTION:

*Moody's Investors Service said Thursday that total insured losses from this event are currently estimated to be between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion. "With several parties involved in the drilling work, dozens of class-action lawsuits filed and the ultimate extent of environmental damage unknown, the complexities associated with loss claims are significant and could take many years to be resolved," Moody's said.

*Oriel Securities analyst Thomas Dorner said last week: "The scale of industry loss will lead to significant price increases. Although energy rates declined in early 2010 from peak levels in 2009, this loss evidences that rates are still not high enough to compensate for the risk of loss. In our view, it is likely that midsize oil and gas companies will increase the amount of cover they purchase. Larger players are expected to continue to self insure."

WHAT THE KEY COMPANIES SAY:

*BP: CEO Tony Hayward has tried to play down the effect of the oil spill by saying May 18 that "the overall environmental impact [of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill] will be very, very modest." Recently, he admitted BP wasn't adequately prepared for the crisis, and told the Financial Times: "What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your toolkit." BP has tried various methods to plug the oil spill and is currently using robot submarines TO siphon off oil belching from the ruptured wellhead.

*TRANSOCEAN: CEO Steven Newman said May 28 the company will pay a shareholder-approved $1 billion dividend and still meet all of its legal obligations related to the oil spill. "The payment of the dividend will not affect the company's ability to meet its legal obligations," Newman said. More than a dozen U.S. senators, led by Ron Wyden, questioned the dividend payment, saying it may make it more difficult to pursue liability claims against the company.

SHARE REACTION: BP shares have fallen 34% since April 21 to close at 430 pence on Wednesday. Over the same period, Transocean shares have fallen 47% to $48.45 on Tuesday.

DEEPWATER HORIZON LOSS ESTIMATES (Source: Moody's Investor Service):

COMPANY MIDPOINT OF RANGE OR BEST ESTIMATE
Swiss Re $200M
Munich Re $80M
Partner Re $65M
Hannover Re $53M
Validus Holdings $42M
Catlin Group $40M
Lancashire Holdings $25M
Chaucer Holdings $25M
Montpelier Re Holdings $20M
Amlin $15M
Transatlantic Holdings $15M
Hiscox $15M
RJ Kiln & Co. $10M
Beazley $6M

Just seen some of the photo's of Sea-birds covered in oil on the MSN website, plus photo's of anti-BP protesters - Can see this will be the start of things to come shortly, get your 'short' on - these photo's are going to make the SP plummet. This will take a real hammering next week.

Unfortunatley its more likely to be whether or not they hold the dividend that determines the direction now. Even if the cap works, it looks to be August before a relief well is drilled, and I think that is largely factored in the price.

UPDATE: BP Leaves Question Of Dividend Open After Oil Spill
(Adds background, information about containment of oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico well.)


By Benoit Faucon
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON (Dow Jones)

BP PLC's (BP) chairman Friday left open the question of whether the company would keep its dividend level unchanged as the cost of cleaning up a U.S. oil spill escalated above $1 billion.

"Future decisions on the quarterly dividend will be made by the board, as they always have been, on the basis of the circumstances at the time," Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement released as BP executives briefed investors. "It remains our aim as always to strike the right balance for shareholders between current returns through the dividend, sustained investment for long-term growth and maintaining a prudent gearing level."

Investors have worried that the escalating costs, now above $1 billion, could force BP to cut its dividend--an event that hasn't happened since August 1992. The company spent $10 billion on dividends last year, and the payout is a key source of revenue for U.K. pension funds. The next dividend is due to be announced July 27.

The Deepwater Horizon rig, which BP leased from Transocean Ltd. (RIG), exploded April 20 and sank two days later. The well has continued to leak oil in the Gulf of Mexico despite several attempts by BP to contain the spill.

However, BP said in a separate statement Friday that a drillship was receiving some oil and gas, diverted through the successful placement of a containment cap atop a ruptured pipe.

BP warned the containment system's ability to fully contain the oil and gas cannot be assured.

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

after a disastrous friday on wall street, it must surely be a racing certainty that bp will get a real pasting again on monday

cynic so what is your target sp to get back in?

I wouldn't get back in at all halifax except for a short term trade for a quick bounce on news like they have plugged a hole...

i suppose 350, but maybe not even then ..... confess i don't like the feel of the markets at the moment, rather as you predicted, though i am not quite that gloomy!

Sell this to 350p.

Sell this to 350p.