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?

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.

,,,,,bp claiming some success in containing leak - l dont beleve a single word . l am watching a feed on dutch tv and oil is still spewing out ! But this is by no means the first,the second, nor the third time BP have caused a shitty mess.The mess they left in the north sea was scandelous !! They are masters of duplicity and as rotton and corrupt as is possible for a PLC to be. But this time they have crossed the rubicon/ the political/economic ramifications are horrorfying for UK. PLC ....and all the bastards care about is reassuring institutions they will maintain their div. payments ... Upon which planet are these people living ? .......lts always the effing $$ ...always ....Testimony is now emerging,and on official record, that this environmental tragedy, which is sadly, but deliberately, being underplayed by the brit media machine,could have been avoided a full three weeks before the well exploded causing both loss of life and a goliath sized ecological disaster-the size of which is beyond human comprehension .Dont these bastards ever learn ? The well had been in big trouble for weeks. While insurers burn the midnight oil in search of tangible evidence in order to avoid coughing out billions of sponds ,that muppit like Obama will be forced to provide the rope to let BP hang themselves . For once i agree with Mitzy.Let them sink . Short this monolith into oblivion ............l wouldnt buy them at any price ....let rome in tiber melt and the wide arches of the empire fall ................ .......

A classic reply from TFC .... I thought he was going to quote " As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much oil."

he is just another shorter,nobody should be fooled by his verbal diaroeah.

Are you long then Halifax ? going short is just another investment tool to make money .

aldwick as most impartial observers of this disaster have opined BP is not about to go bust,the true extent of the damage done to the environment and the cost of clearing it up will not be fully known for perhaps years.BP needs the US and the US needs BP, lessons will be learned and life goes on in the oil producing business. Once the leaking oil well is capped the media will move on to the next "disaster story" and pressure on BP will subside. We are not long or short at present but watching the situation, in the short term there may be some downside which could result in a buying opportunity.

interesting spelling in yorkshire young hali!
fyi, talking to one of the big oilies over here today, he too reckoned this was a disaster that could not reasonably be foreseen, nor the "cure" to be readily to hand

meanwhile, i am venal enough to (try to) make money on the short tack!

lm not getting into a personal slinging match with you halifax; but i am currently neither short,long or come to that,holding any position in bp -my own short has come and gone and funds banked so the axe i grind is not of a fiscal nature ../ ..the main tenet of my argument was that this ecological disaster could perhaps have been avoided if procedure had been observed. ,,,,,try reading evidence already before the house of reps judiciary commitee before you make your typical banal comments -or Woods and Mckenzies extensive analysis of bp's previous numerous cock ups ...

frenchie it is too early to point the finger at BP alone. In time after a comprehensive investigation has been carried out no doubt a share of the blame will be apportioned to them. However as our interest is in finding investment opportunities not in trying to bring down large corporations your biased comments are really not constructive as far as we are concerned.

i don't really agree with either of you .... to my mind, it is a great malaise of current society that we feel obliged to apportion blame to someone, even if it is something that could not be reasonably foresee - as in this instance, i personally believe was the case

British Pete a British company doing rather well over there..

Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil response.

The lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap, installed on June 3, continues to collect oil and gas flowing from the well and transport them to the Discoverer Enterprise drillship on the surface. On June 5, a total of 10,500 barrels of oil was collected and 22 million standard cubic feet of natural gas was flared. From June 3 through June 5, the volume of oil collected was 16,600 barrels and 32.7 million standard cubic feet of natural gas was flared.

Optimization continues and improvement in oil collection is expected over the next several days. It will be a few days before an assessment can be made as to the success of this containment effort.

This is a complex operation, involving risks and uncertainties, being carried out 5,000 feet under water. The LMRP containment cap never before has been deployed at these depths and conditions, and its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured.

The volume of oil captured and gas flared is being updated daily on BP's website, www.bp.com