BP shares drop on worries of criminal charges for Gulf spill
BP saw its shares drop 2.2 per cent yesterday after it emerged that executives at the oil major might face criminal charges for their role in last April’s Deepwater Horizon disaster.
BP was the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 yesterday, closing at 466.55p. The shares have been under pressure since a tribunal blocked its planned £10bn share swap with Russian oil explorer Rosneft on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors in the States are considering whether to press manslaughter charges against BP managers, including former chief executive Tony Hayward, after 11 workers died in the explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Department of Justice declined to comment last night.
BP told investors yesterday it has spent $19bn (£11.9bn) so far on repairing damage done by the resulting oil spill, and has lined up enough asset sales to reach its $30bn fund-raising target.
The firm faces shareholder dissent at its general meeting on 14 April, after corporate governance group PIRC yesterday recommended that investors vote against “excessive” director pay.