BP shares fall as oil spill clean-up costs reach £1.3bn

BP shares received a fresh battering today as the group revealed that clean-up costs for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster had climbed to $2bn (£1.3bn) so far.

The blue-chip stock dropped more than 3% amid growing concerns over the ultimate cost of the spill, with reports over the weekend suggesting it was planning to raise $50bn to cover response efforts - more than double the amount previously thought.

Pressure on the group is showing no sign of easing after yet more blows to its reputation since chief executive Tony Hayward’s mauling at the hands of US politicians last week.

Mr Hayward was pilloried in the US for spending yesterday sailing around the Isle of Wight, while the group was forced to halt oil recovery from one of the ships taking part in the operation for 10 hours.

BP said around 11,050 barrels were recovered on Saturday from the ship, which was below recent levels.

And an internal BP document released yesterday by a US congressman indicated that the scale of the crisis could be even worse than feared – with the potential for around 100,000 barrels of oil a day to spew out if all equipment restricting the flow was removed and company models were wrong.