BP Stands For Bankruptcy Protection? By Ed Carson Wed., June 09, 2010 3:25 PM ET Tags: BP - Oil Spill - Markets - Stocks - Bankruptcy BP (BP), the one-time British Petroleum that tried to rebrand itself as “Beyond Petroleum,” is crashing today on talk that energy giant may have to seek bankruptcy protection. BP has plunged 15% — more than 50% below pre-spill levels. In an article today, Fortune quoted Matt Simmons, oil and gas industry insider:
They have about a month before they declare Chapter 11. They’re going to run out of cash from lawsuits, cleanup and other expenses. One really smart thing that Obama did was about three weeks ago he forced BP CEO Tony Hayward to put in writing that BP would pay for every dollar of the cleanup. But there isn’t enough money in the world to clean up the Gulf of Mexico. Once BP realizes the extent of this my guess is that they’ll panic and go into Chapter 11.
Apparently there’s also a rumor that BP has hired a bankruptcy lawyer.
Less drastically, there’s increasing concerns about whether BP will have to suspend its dividend as it bends to financial and political pressure.
BP’s afternoon crash also cut short a stock rebound Wednesday, with the major market averages all reversing lower in late trading.
