Friday, June 11, 2010

Energy/BP Headlines-BP is considering cutting its dividend – Rumors of the London Telegraph Reporter -paid off by BP

Energy/BP Headlines
· BP is considering cutting its dividend – the firm is considering cutting its Q2 payout to help quell the rising levels of political pressure; an outright cut could occur or all/part of it could be paid out in “scrip” (effectively an IOU); Hayward tells that WSJ that all options for the dividend being considered but that no decisions have been reached (WSJ) 
· Crude had been flowing at rates much higher than initially thought - On Thursday, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey said the oil well was likely spewing out between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels a day before BP partially contained the flow earlier this month. That's up from a May 27 estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day, and an initial estimate of just 1,000 barrels a day (WSJ) 
· BP – a DOJ official said Thursday that the agency is not preparing to seek an injunction that would block BP from paying a dividend (Bloomberg) 
· BP    the Florida AG is asking BP to place $2.5B into escrow to cover future damages (cnbc)
· BP – UK gov’t comes to defense of the firm; the UK gov’t asked the U.S. in a statement to "remember the economic value BP brings to people in Britain and America." – WSJ 

· BP – legal experts question whether the company can be held liable for the lost wages of Gulf-area employees; the White House backed away from an earlier suggestion that it would prevent BP from paying a dividend (DJ)
· BP – Obama to meet w/BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg next Wednesday; the White House said BP board chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and "any appropriate officials from BP'' have been invited to a meeting June 16 with senior administration officials. President Barack Obama will attend a portion of the meeting (WSJ) 
· BP – a second system to collect more oil from its containment well in the GOM will be in place over the weekend; the current system can handle 18K barrels of oil per day but that could jump to 28K w/another system; BP could start burning off some of the collected crude as early as Mon (Reuters)
· BP – this London Telegraph article discusses takeover spec swirling around BP; mentions PetroChina, XOM, and RDS as potential buyers - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7819196/BP-oil-spill-BP-could-be-bid-target-as-US-woes-send-shares-sliding.html
· British politicians said to be growing very upset w/American reaction over BP GOM spill – NYT    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/business/11bp.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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