BP shares recover from 13-year low

Shares of the beleaguered oil giant recovered after supportive comments from the UK government. "We are all concerned about the human and environmental impact and as the Prime Minister has said we understand the concerns of the U.S. administration," Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said after speaking to BP chief executive Tony Hayward by telephone. "The Prime Minister is also clear that we need constructive solutions and that we remember the economic value BP brings to people in Britain and America," Osborne added. BP shares climbed 7-8% on Friday, its biggest gain since November 2008 and snapping four days of declines that saw its shares fall to the lowest level in 13 years.



Earlier, US President Barack Obama stepped up the offensive over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP's share price, which had already taken a battering, dived to its lowest level in 13 years. BP placed a containment cap over its damaged underwater pipe and managed to capture some of the leaking oil, but there were fears that the oil was gushing out at a much faster rate than had been thought. The well's flow rate may be as high 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) per day - twice as much as previously estimated. Separately, analysts at Credit Suisse said that BP now estimated the clean-up cost at US$3-6bn.

BP, faced with US political pressure and public anger over its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, is considering cutting or deferring its second-quarter dividend payment, the Wall Street Journal reported. The dividend is due to be announced on July 27, and BP’s board may cut it altogether, defer it, or pay all or part in scrip, effectively an IOU to investors