BP dismisses fears over dried up funds
BP has tried to alleviate worries it is running out of cash, insisting it had enough resources to deal with the Gulf of Mexico crisis.
This comes as BP shares slipped another 2.2 per cent to 349.5p on Monday -- just under half their price before the oil rig explosion on April 20.
The energy company played down reports about it building a $US50 billion ($56bn) war chest through an imminent bond placing and an accelerated sale of $US20bn worth of properties.
BP's international reputation is again challenged as further doubts surfaced over a $US7bn plan to buy 10 deepwater oilfields in Brazil.
Announced six weeks before the Gulf disaster, the acquisition was BP's largest since Tony Hayward became chief executive in 2007. Brazil's leading oil industry regulator Haroldo Lima said the government would not make a decision on the sale of the fields owned by US company Devon Energy until the Deepwater Horizon crisis had ended.
BP, which reportedly spent $US2bn on the clean-up, announced last week its intention to trim annual spending plans and sell an extra $US8bn of assets this year to help finance the effort.
The company has agreed to build a $US20bn fund to compensate victims and drawn up options to pay what Goldman Sachs estimates could reach up to $US70bn in costs and compensation claims.
BP said its oil-capture systems had burned off 23,290 barrels of crude on Sunday. The containment cap system installed on June 3 recovered 14,570 barrels, while a second system that began on June 16 retrieved 8,720 barrels.