Monday, June 21, 2010

BP and the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabamba

On June 21, 2010, stock in BP, which said it has now spent $2 billion since April 20 trying to stop the oil spill and to pay initial claims for damages on shore, fell 2.2 percent to 349.5 pence ($5.18) in London Monday. The company has seen its value cut nearly in half since the disaster.

In the U.S., shares of BP dropped $1.63, or 5.1 percent, to $30.13 in afternoon trading after Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit cut his price target on the shares to $45 from $55 because of Anadarko's accusations, which he said were made, in part, to reduce its future financial exposure to liabilities.

Gheit said cleanup cost estimates run from $20 billion to $140 billion spread over five to 20 years. He said BP can survive his cost estimate of $30 billion to $60 billion, but costs topping $100 billion could force the company into bankruptcy.

"BP faces record cleanup costs and financial liabilities that are very difficult, if not impossible, to estimate with a high level of certainty," Gheit said in a research note.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Barr and Martin Benedyk in London and Mark Williams in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

No comments: