Workers in Louisiana tackle oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak. BP will try again to cap the oil well later this week. (Reuters)
Shares in BP plunged as much as 20% at one stage this morning – wiping another £14bn off the company’s market value – after the oil producer failed over the weekend to stop its catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP has now lost £44bn of its market capitalisation since 20 April, when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded. By 10am the shares had staged a partial recovery from early lows of 420p, after their biggest fall in 18 years, but were still trading 14% lower, at 427p.
The company said a containment cap will be connected towards the end of the week, although the spill could worsen in the meantime. BP has spent almost $1bn (£700m) so far attempting to plug the leak, but said it was “too early” to quantify other potential costs and liabilities associated with the incident. The total bill could rise to as much as $12bn, according to UBS.
The new strategy is the company’s “best option”, BP chief executive Tony Hayward said in a statement today.
The company has received as many as 30,000 claims, mostly from businesses in the US states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, which involve loss of earnings or bereavement suffered by families of the 11 workers killed when the rig caught fire.
Elena Moya
Tuesday 1 June 2010 10.42 BST
Source: The Guardian
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– BP’s top kill effort fails to plug Gulf oil leak
– Gulf of Mexico Oil Apocalypse Creates Underwater Nightmare
– Gulf of Mexico clean-up boats recalled after crews suffer health problems
– SPECIAL REPORT: Civil fine in Gulf spill could be $4,300 a barrel
– Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Health Hazards
– Fishermen get severly ill from clean-up work in Gulf
– NASA Images Show Oil Entering Loop Current
– New NASA Image of Gulf Oil Moving Towards Atlantic Ocean
– Worry That Gulf Oil Spreading Into Major Ocean Current
– AP IMPACT: Fed’l Inspections on Rig Not as Claimed:
The federal agency responsible for ensuring that an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that inspections be done at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Since January 2005, the federal Minerals Management Service conducted at least 16 fewer inspections aboard the Deepwater Horizon than it should have under the policy, a dramatic fall from the frequency of prior years, according to the agency’s records.
Scientists studying video of the gushing oil well have tentatively calculated that it could be flowing at a rate of 25,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil a day. The latter figure would be 3.4 million gallons a day.
– Beyond Stupid: BP CEO Tony Hayward:
“The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.”
– US Oil Spill: Scientists and Fishermen Alarmed Over Chemical Dispersants:
Approximately 325,000 gallons of dispersant have been deployed so far in BP’s effort to break up the spreading oil slick before it hits the fragile Gulf coast, and over 500,000 gallons more are available.
– Rig firm makes $270m profit from Gulf of Mexico oil spill
– US not accepting foreign help on oil spill
– Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: New NOAA Projection Map; BP’s High-Stakes Mission; And More News
– Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: The Halliburton Connection:
The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.