Goldbug100 - BP (BP.L) Will Royal Dutch Shell make a move now suggested damages payments could be half the expected level.

The Daily Mail newspaper reported rival Royal Dutch Shell had considered a takeover bid during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Monday 3rd January 2011. The shares hit a 6 month high yesterday and rose another 4.25p again today. Yahoo (below) indicate a year target of 7.57 pounds.

Last Trade:	495.85
Trade Time:	13:34
Change:	4.25 (0.86%)
Prev Close:	491.60
Open:	492.00
Bid:	495.85
Ask:	495.95
1y Target Est:	7.75

Day's Range:	490.70 - 500.10
52wk Range:	298.00 - 498.05
Volume:	22,944,500
Avg Vol (3m):	30,825,500
Market Cap:	N/A
P/E (ttm):	N/A
EPS (ttm):	N/A
Div & Yield:	N/A (N/A)

The newspaper said Shell could yet bid for BP if another suitor emerged but Europe's largest oil company by market value was unlikely to be the "first mover."

BP shares trade on a price-earnings ratio of 6.5 times, consensus 2011 earnings, while Shell trades at 8.9 times.

 BP's shares have rebounded 65 percent from their June low at 296 pence, to give BP a market value of around $140 billion - Shell  $210 billion - Exxon  $370 billion.

Regulators might not look kindly on a merger between Shell and BP but maybe the Chinese Oil Company Sinopec or a Russia Company could be interested?

We do not think after the Gulf debacle shareholders will support the board as they have seen their share plunge and the dividend scrapped, at least for the time being. If there was an offer of 7.75 we think shareholders would accept for an investment in BG.L would have been far more rewarding over the last 5 years

 

Goldbug 100 - BP (BP.L) - President Obama & the Media scaremongering?

Earlier I read an article in doing our investigation that there is a natural leakage of gas and oil in the Gulf of Mexico and twittered a link to the page at the time. I tried to locate it today and found this on Google

Global Marine Oil Pollution Information Gateway • Facts • Natural ...

U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS): Natural oil and gas seepage in the coastal areas ... U.S. NASA: Tons of oil seep into the Gulf of Mexico each year. ...
oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/natural-sources.htm - Cached - Similar

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Crude oil and natural gas seeps naturally out of fissures in the ocean seabed and eroding sedimentary rock. These seeps are natural springs where liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons leak out of the ground (like springs that ooze oil and gas instead of water). Whereas freshwater springs are fed by underground pools of water, oil and gas seeps are fed by natural underground accumulations of oil and natural gas (see USGS illustration). Natural oil seeps are used in identifying potential petroleum reserves. As pointed out by the National Research Council (NRC) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, "natural oil seeps contribute the highest amount of oil to the marine environment, accounting for 46 per cent of the annual load to the world's oceans. -- Although they are entirely natural, these seeps significantly alter the nature of nearby marine environments. For this reason, they serve as natural laboratories where researchers can learn how marine organisms adapt over generations of chemical exposure. Seeps illustrate how dramatically animal and plant population levels can change with exposure to ocean petroleum". NOAA describe a natural seepage area in California: "One of the best-known areas where this happens is Coal Oil Point along the California Coast near Santa Barbara. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of crude oil is released naturally from the ocean bottom every day just a few miles offshore from this beach". (730,000 to 1,095,000 gallons a year - believe th figure mentioned for the Gulf was 5,000,000 gallons a year but checking this fact)  . BP's Gulf Oil Leak Ranks as World's Worst Caused by an Accident ... 3 Aug 2010 ... BP Plc 's crippled Macondo oil well spewed 4.1 million barrels of ... us to get a decent estimate to figure how much oil is coming out, ... www.bloomberg.com/.../bp-s-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-ranks-as-world-s-worst-caused-by-an-accident.html - Cached Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Haag Sherman, chief investment officer of Salient Partners LP, discusses the outlook for BP Plc's efforts to raise funds to pay compensation for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the company's agreement to sell fields in Colombia to Ecopetrol SA and Talisman Energy Inc. for $1.9 billion in cash. Sherman speaks with Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop With Betty Liu.” (Source: Bloomberg)  BP Plc’s crippled Macondo oil well spewed 4.1 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico during the 87 days before it was capped, a team of scientists said, making it the world’s largest accidental offshore spill.  BP siphoned off an additional 800,000 barrels from when the well exploded on April 20 to when it was capped on July 15, the U.S. government-appointed group said yesterday in its latest estimate of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.  The Macondo spill exceeds the 3.3 million barrels that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences estimated leaked from Mexico’s Ixtoc-1 well in the Bay of Campeche (Mentioned in th article that I was looking for*) after a blowout in 1979. The world’s worst spill was in the 1991 Persian Gulf War when retreating Iraqi forces opened oil pumps, causing the release of 6 million barrels, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  “The number should be thought of as our best estimate,” Ira Leifer, a University of California, Santa Barbara researcher and one of the scientists on the team appointed by the U.S. Energy Department, said in a telephone interview yesterday.  * Will publish here if and when I find The bottom line is that the BP oil spill according to Bloomberg was 4.100.000 barrels and at Coal Oil Point along the California Coast near Santa Barbara. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of crude oil is released naturally from the ocean bottom every day just a few miles offshore from this beach but we do not see the American President ranting and raving every day on television about this do we. We thought that America was a democracy - that you were innocent until proved guilty but that does not seem to have been the case to date with BP The President looked pleased yesterday, his birthday with the news from BP. Had he bothered to do his research earlier and read this article he would not have been suprised at nature taking its course would he? the impartial British Press said Political and Media scaremongering   It is reported the sale at BP gas stations have fallen 40% during the scaremongering.  It is reported that there are many spotless beaches lacking tourists due to the scaremongering, but the President has said that BP will cover the costs - not the scaremongers!   It was irresponsible reporting on the part of Bloomberg television to show Tony Hayward with an untasteful editing reporting "I don´t know. I wan´t there. I don´t know............" It is a great pity that Howard Hughes was not sat in Tony Haywards seat in front of Congress on that day.   The sad thing about this is that the scaremongering has become paramount not the loss of life due to the accident