Allen Said BP’s Gulf Well Work May Resume Tomorrow

BP Plc’s effort to permanently plug the Gulf of Mexico well that caused the largest U.S. offshore oil spill may resume tomorrow, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said.

Removal and replacement of the blowout preventer, a stack of valves atop the well, may begin within 36 hours depending on weather conditions, Allen said today at a press conference in Houston. The work has been stalled since Aug. 30 by rough seas. via businessweek

It will come as little surprise to newspaper readers and television watchers, but BP significantly increased its spending on advertising after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.

BP spent $93.4 million on newspaper, magazine, television and Internet advertising in the three months following the disaster, three times what it spent in the comparable period in 2009, the company reported to Congress.

To repair highly damaged public image, BP Spends $1M Per Week On Advertising

BP p.l.c. , Europe's largest oil company, has spent $ 1,000,000 a week of advertising in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in an attempt to repair its badly damaged public image.

That figure includes radio and TV ad buys. BP is expected to detail their expenses post-stroke in his testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday.

Both companies have suspended dividends this year in an effort to save cash for spill-related expenses.

BP Internal Report Looks Like Bad News, The report does say that BP is, at least in part, repsonsible for the explosion, but Transocean (NYSE: RIG), the rig's owner, also shares some responsibility, the report said.

By the way, BP CEO Bob Dudley says BP officials will meet with representatives of Alabama Governor Bob Riley and Attorney General Troy King on Monday to discuss the state's $148 million claim against BP for the Gulf oil spill.

BP Stocks news(AUGUST 11, 2010)

SPANISH FORT, Ala. — BP PLC announced Today the first $3 billion of an eventual $20 billion escrow account has been deposited in a trust to pay legitimate claims stemming from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon incident.

Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana have all called on BP to fund mental health care. And Louisiana advised the Department of Health and Human Services last month that it was encountering "increases in anxiety, depression, stress, grief, excessive and earlier drinking and suicide ideation."

U.K. oil giant BP PLC (BP) has pushed back the start of its exploration for oil in deep water offshore Libya for an unspecified period of time to ensure all its plans are in order, but the company and the Libyan authorities insist the drilling will be safe.

BP said it will proceed with its first deep water well offshore Libya some time later this year. However, amid fears in Europe that an accident similar to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could trigger an ecological disaster in the Mediterranean.

With no oil to fight in South Florida, BP has begun downsizing its Miami operations center. It's giving up one high-rise office near Brickell Avenue and isn't sure how long it will keep a lease on another.

Reporting from Atlanta and Los Angeles — The effort to permanently kill BP's troubled gulf well, originally scheduled for the end of this week, has been delayed several days by the approach of a tropical storm system, officials said Tuesday.

No plans to buy BP's German assets,Rosneft says

Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft said on Monday it has no plans to acquire downstream assets of BP in Germany.

On Saturday, German magazine Wirtschaftswoche said that BP Plc (BP.L: Quote) is seeking to sell its German petrol station chain Aral for around 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion), and that Rosneft was among possible buyers.via reuters.com

Kuwait Fund Denies It Was Offered Chance to Raise BP Stake

Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund denied a report that it had been offered the opportunity to raise its stake in BP (BP). Newspaper Al-Anba published a story saying BP's outgoing CEO Tony Hayward asked the Kuwait Investment Authority to up its stake to 3% to help protect the company from takeover bids, Bloomberg News reported.


The Kuwait Investment Authority received no such offer, the wealth fund said in e-mailed statement. Last month, another Kuwaiti newspaper published a story saying that Kuwait may purchase some BP assets in the Middle East and Asia, Reuters said.

U.K. Stocks Rise, Led by BP Shares Advance

BP Stock Alerts:

U.K. stocks rose for a second day, led by banks, amid speculation the stress tests for European lenders will be less severe than forecast.

Barclays Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc led financial shares higher. J Sainsbury Plc climbed 4.9 percent amid newspaper speculation that the Qatar Investment Authority may be renewing its interest in acquiring the U.K.’s third- largest supermarket owner. BP Plc gained 4.8 percent.(via businessweek.com)

BP surged 4.8 percent to 362.05 pence amid speculation sovereign funds in the Middle East may invest in the oil company. Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, who held a meeting with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince today, may seek support from the Middle East after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill eroded BP’s share price by more than 50 percent, according to Saud Masud, the Dubai-based head of Middle East research at UBS AG.

Oil breaks 6-session losing streak with 2.9% rise

Crude oil for August delivery settled up $2.09, or 2.9%, at $74.07 on Wednesday, its first close above $74 in a week. The rise snapped a six-session losing streak that mirrored weak economic data and a similar streak in the U.S. equity market. Natural gas for August delivery fell 2.5%, or about 12 cents, to settle at $4.57 per million British thermal units, on lower-than-expected demand amid a heat wave in the Northeast.(via marketwatch.com)

BP PLC launches search for strategic investor: full report

Read the full article in marketwatch

Oil major BP has launched a search for a strategic investor to help secure its independence as it moves to defend itself against potential takeover bids, according to the Sunday Times.

The company's advisers are trying to drum up interest among rival oil groups and sovereign wealth funds to take a stake of between 5% and 10% at a cost of up to GBP6 billion, the paper says, without citing sources.

Buy rating on BP shares and the spillover effect

BP's U.S. shares slipped 16 cents to $29.23 in midday trading Friday but still show a gain of 8 percent for the week.

Fox News Poll: A new poll released Friday by Fox News shows that few voters -- less than one in four -- think the federal government (24 percent) and BP (23 percent) are doing everything possible to combat the oil spill.

CNOOC is understood to have expressed interest in buying the 60 per cent stake held by BP in Pan American Energy, Argentina’s oil and gas group.

Buy rating on BP shares, but lowering our target price from $49 to $41 to reflect a higher level of exposure to oil-spill-related costs and liabilities.

BP Shares continue to fall, BP OIL may be acquired

BP stock news: BP is in talks to raise about $5 billion in short-term loans from banks to help finance liabilities arising from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Financial Times newspaper reported Thursday. By the end of last week BP had already raised around $20 billion in cash and credit to tackle costs from the spill, according to the report.

BP PLC is seeking as much as $5 billion in additional funding to deal with growing liabilities stemming from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to sources familiar with the situation.

RBS analyst David Cline said that BP's updates on drilling a relief well suggest that it is ahead of schedule and could intersect the broken well by next week.

If BP's stock dropped below $30 a share, it would become an attractive takeover target.

JPMorgan analyst Fred Lucas said Tuesday that BP could be worth 473 pence a share to a potential buyer, such as U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)--a hefty premium to BP's current share price. "The market has lost sight of the intrinsic value that is resident in an asset-rich company like BP," Lucas said.