The oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has damaged BP's reputation will they manage to avoid a share collapse to 350p.?



472p to buy this morning.

From the TELEGRAPH ( tomorrow edition )

BP's Tony Hayward tours the Middle East as investors weigh up prospects

Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, was last night touring the Middle East to reassure the oil giant's partners, as sources said the company is still trying to drum up interest in its shares among Gulf investors.

BP confirmed that Abu Dhabi, rumoured to be interested in taking a stake, was "on Mr Hayward's itinerary" following a stop at the company's operations in Azerbaijan. A spokesman insisted that Mr Haywood was there to offer assurances about the company's stability but would talk about investments "should there be any interest".

BP has ruled out any new shares - either as a placing or a rights issues - but could encourage a new white knight investor to provide a backstop on the declining share price.

The tour comes as BP's management remains under intense pressure to deal with its financial situation in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP's market value has dropped by 50pc since the accident on April 20 killed 11 men and triggered the catastrophic leak.

It is understood that Sir Bill Castell, BP's senior independent director, has been leading a round of talks with shareholders. Sources suggest that BP's leadership team will stand down as soon as the leaking well is plugged. As the senior non-executive director, Sir Bill's role is to liaise between shareholders and management - and smooth over any change over at the top.

The Daily Telegraph has also learned that BP bosses are seeking to calm the concerns of top institutional investors by claiming they are ready to roll out a "robust defence" as soon as the oil leak is capped.

Investors have been told about a "Plan B" which is being secretly worked on by teams of lawyers in answer to criticism that they are failing to defend the company from public attacks. One top ten shareholder said: "We've only heard one side of the story so far. BP has to get the problem solved first but after that we expect the company to come out fighting."

The investors have also voiced their concerns about suggestions that BP could issue shares to bolster its finances. One investor said: "There will be a stink about issuing shares, the company doesn't need either the capital or a row over pre-emption rights. We've made it clear that any new investor must buy shares in the market and support the price."

Instead the company could do a multi-billion pound bond issue for more support which would also underline confidence in its financial position. Experts said the market would support an issue of as much as 10bn.

The developments came as:

BP's oil slick spread deeper into Louisiana's delicate inland wetland areas and tar balls from the spill were confirmed on beaches in Texas.

High waves delayed BP's efforts to catch more oil from the leaking well. It is currently picking up 25,000 barrels per day and hoped to increase this by 10,000 barrels yesterday.

BP's share price rose 3.7pc in London to 345p as drilling for its relief well advanced ahead of schedule.

I guess hlyeo got burned.

Moving higher again after the early profit taking

i bought "too many" yesterday, and as i have been out and about today, set a limit on the "surplus", which has been easily hit and surpassed ..... does one care? ... i think not!

Don't you just love it when markets over-react?

As long as the outfit isn't some sort on AIM-listed busted flush. ;-))

very late in the day, but as always ..... ADRs = $32.80

Looks like good START for FTSE on Thursday

ADRs close $33.19 which also can't hurt

TIme to BUY BP MACD and SP is + trend is up

Watching now for signs of overboughtness/weakness and a potential opportunity to short.

Buying has not even started yet, just dribbles wait till buying really starts.

i'm now out completely at 367.5, which is fine by me ..... may dabble again in due course

Resisted the temptation to short from 370 - am off to USA on a daytime flight tomorrow so won't be able to keep an eye on it.

My guess is they'll return to around 370/380 and hover there for a while before coming back to 350/330. After that the next major move could be in either direction - it's anyone's guess.

I hope the pilot is pissed!

He will be if he was long MDX.

a big jump in a couple seconds from less the 367p to 369p

someone must have close a LARGE short, or closing the GAP of earlier fall from 371p to 367p

Deep water horizon response TO top kill

Q: Hi, Admiral. Some of the contractors are saying that they are very close and that at this point they actually have located the wellbore, they're within several feet. Can you talk to us about what progress they have done since the last update?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: I believe they are at about 15 feet away from the wellbore at this time. Yesterday, they had about 264 feet to go. I've been out here on the drill rigs today, so I'm not up to date on the progress. My guess is they're closing in on about 200 feet, maybe 225 feet yet to go.

This is a very slow, precise process, where they drill only 15 or 20 feet at a time, and then they put the wire down to test the magnetic field. You are correct. They are very, very close. But these last several hundred feet can take sometimes a week to make sure they get this right, because when they go to penetrate it, as you know, this has to be an exact drill into the wellbore.

Q: So as a follow-up, you said yesterday it looks like it's about a week ahead of schedule. Where do you think we are now? There are some reports that maybe within a couple of weeks they will reach their target.

ADMIRAL ALLEN: The time it will take to do thisthe reason it is unknown right now and I'm not willing to come off the mid-August deadline is, if they have to pump mud up through the annulus and then go into the pipe and pump mud there, too, that's a period of seven, 10 days to accomplish both of those things. And if they have to be done in sequence because of the condition of the wellbore when they go in, it will probably take into August, so we're looking at optimal conditions on what they find when they penetrate the wellbore.

So while it's nice to be slightly ahead of schedule, I'm sticking to the middle of August, because we don't know the condition of the wellbore until we penetrate her.

deep water horizon response

Live feeds from remotely operated vehicles (ROV)
Live video feeds (ROV)


OLD - 'Top Kill' LIVE feed: BP says oil spill stopped - on 27 - 05 - 2010

Top Kill live feed

ADRs = $33.56 at london close ..... and closed in NY at $33.74 which won't set the world on fire, but Dow was up another 120 which will push things along nicely

ADRs = $33.80 at close, something for tomorrow morning 1% = 370.50p