RobJenks

Given the enormity of the claims building against BP , will they limit their liability by invoking chapter 11 ?
There appears to be so many fraudulent claims from chancers that genuine claims may well finish in the bin !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter...ed_States_Code

Leslie

I doubt that BP will be getting that close to bankruptcy really.

Les

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I thought BP had already stated that someone else was responsible for the fire and collapse of the rig? meaning they will be pushing the blame of large claims onto a third party.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

The rig was run by another company (TransOcean) but the Blow out Preventer was the resposibility of BP AFAIK.

The guys from BP will be thinking about the reputation of the company and BP mentioned £5.2 billion in cash reserves which could be made available without harm to any of BP's operations.

Shaun

kwaks

The blame is being pushed onto BP by US politicians (read Obama).

The reasons for this are easy to see, BP already has a poor image in US after a fatal explosion at a refinery last year, the President likes to show he is being tough on foreign companies, and probably most importantly the work being done which actually caused the explosion and resulting leak was being carried out by Haliburton.

This is the same Haliburton which the Bush family and other high profile politicians have immense stakes in. The same Haliburton who waltzed into 80% of the contracts in Iraq after US invaded. The same Haliburton who pushed for the war in Iraq to get almost blanket coverage of Iraq & Kuwaited oilfields. The same Haliburton who the politicians will never critisise.

So easiest way to protect the image and *ahem* reputation of Haliburton? Blame the foreign oil company who contracted them (prob under pressure to do so) who obviously have a poor safety contract due to the refinery incident.

I have seen first hand the BP safety culture. It is faultless and if anything it goes too far. I have also seen the attitude to safety displayed by US oilworkers and companies.

I know who was really responsible if blame is justified.

iamevilhomer

I can't see them getting any where near bankruptcy. I read somewhere that the daily cost of the spill is £23 million per day, but they make £66 million per day.

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

Also worth bearing in mind that BP only have a 65% share of the well, Anadarko have 25% and Mitsibushi o&g have 10% - at some point BP will get back 35% of costs of the incident.
As for blame, wouldn't like to says, but Transocean operated the rig, Haliburton cemented the well, and the BOP (which is a fail safe device) was made by Cameron - there's a lot of companies in the frame here and a few are American based.

PaulC72

The news said the clean up has currently cost them 1.6 billion and last years dividends was 2.5 billion and they can get hold of 15 billion (all rough figures) I doubt it will be the end of BP.

mslorach

iTrader: (22)

Total rubbish, the work that was done by Halliburton prior to the blow out did not cause it, the casing was cemented in place 24 hrs earlier by Halliburton and successfully pressure tested as per the BP work instructions.
Quoting a few internet conspiracy theories involving Halliburton doesn't make your accusations true.
I'm a Halliburton employee and have been cementing wells for 14 years for various different companies and I can honestly say that Halliburton is one of the safest companies I've worked for.

corradoboy

What effect could BP have if they told Obama to foof off and ceased all operations in the US ? Given their dependence on oil and the associated jobs, can BP get tough back at the President ? The collateral financial damage would be huge the world over, but especially in the US, and especially their pensions provisions ! Obama wants to be seen as being the tough guy, but can they hoof him in the ***** and run ? I'm sure China would take up much of the excess oil BP would have to spare.

boomer

I was thinking along similar lines, and while they are at it they could bring in "outsiders" to help with the cleanup rather than paying coastal Merkins $1,200 a day to tidy up the mess caused by their SUV dependency!

mb

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

I heard that after this is all finished BP should still be in credit in their bank by over 13 billion $.
The same person told me the minute shares drop to £2 then buy all you can afford!!!!

GlesgaKiss

Very very slim to no chance of that happening. So they can get their hands on 15 billion now... That's nothing. Even if costs are wildy higher than that, they will be spread over many many years and be easily paid out of earnings.

corradoboy

Transocean don't have a very good safety record apparently.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...S-partner.html

RA Dunk

I've spent five years working for them in the North Sea, by far the worst drilling company out there, but also the biggest drilling company out there.

Just due to the amount or rigs they own and amount of personel they employ they will always have a higher incident rate than anybody else.