BP vows to continue US operations

BP will not end operations in the United States over the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster that had “threatened the very existence” of the energy giant, its new chief executive Bob Dudley said in London yesterday.

“I can promise you that I did not become chief executive of BP in order to walk away from the US. BP will not be quitting America,” Dudley, who is a US national, told business leaders.

“There is so much at stake, both for BP and the United States. The US has major energy needs. BP is the largest producer of oil and gas in the country, and a vital contributor to fulfilling them.”

The oil disaster was triggered by a blast on the Deepwater Horizon rig, leased by BP and operated by Transocean Energy, that killed 11 workers on April 20.

The broken well was eventually plugged after it gushed about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf waters. The spill destroyed hundreds of miles of fragile coastlines and caused BP’s shares to collapse.

“This is a story of the damage that can be wrought by a single accident in one segment of a giant company’s operations,” Dudley told delegates at the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

“From a terrible accident and environmental spill grew a corporate crisis that threatened the very existence of our company – a major loss of value and loss of trust.”

Dudley began his job on October 1 after his gaffe- prone predecessor Tony Hayward was forced out over his widely-criticised handling of the oil spill.

BP said yesterday it is selling its interests in four Gulf of Mexico deepwater fields to Marubeni Oil and Gas of Japan for $650 million (€465m) just months after acquiring them.

The cash deal comes as BP looks to sell up to $30 billion (€21bn) of assets by the end of 2011 to help meet its financial obligations from the Gulf oil spill.

BP acquired the interests in the four fields from US group Devon Energy in March.

BP expects the Gulf of Mexico spill to cost it more than $32.2bn (€23bn), taking into account compensation and clean-up costs.

Dudley yesterday pledged the group’s commitment to safe deep-sea energy exploration. “The deep waters are becoming an increasingly important source of energy to fuel the global economy,” he told CBI delegates.

They account for around 7% of total oil supplies now, growing to a projected 9% in 2020.

“And we are one of only a handful of companies with the financial and technological strengths to undertake development projects in these difficult geographies. And it can be done safely.”