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Brown Pelicans, covered in oil from BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, huddle together in a cage at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Buras, Louisiana June 6, 2010.LEE CELANO

As BP PLC rushed Thursday to stop the freefall in its share price by highlighting its financial heft, the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico opened a transatlantic political rift, with some British politicians and business leaders decrying attacks on the oil giant by U.S. authorities.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, complained of "anti-British rhetoric" by U.S. government officials in a BBC radio interview Thursday.

The chairman of one of the Britain's largest insurers accused U.S. President Barack Obama of "double standards," contrasting the president's heated rhetoric against BP and its chief executive officer Tony Hayward with his milder treatment of top U.S. bankers during the recent financial crisis.

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"There is a sense here that these attacks are being made because BP is British," John Napier, chairman of RSA Insurance Group PLC, said in a personal letter to the President. He said Mr. Obama's comments were coming off as "somewhat prejudicial and personal."

U.S. government officials, including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, have referred to BP as "British Petroleum," the name it dropped a dozen years ago. Mr. Obama has repeatedly called for BP to halt its $10.5-billion (U.S.) annual dividend and this week said that Mr. Hayward "wouldn't be working for me" after the BP CEO made comments that appeared to minimize the impact of the spill.

As the spill took on a more-political edge, the U.S. State Department held a briefing Thursday in Washington to say "this is not about relations between the United States and its closest ally." Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said he saw "no reason" why the spill would affect U.S.-British relations.



Read all about it in Jeff Rubin's Smaller World blog



British Prime Minister David Cameron, in a regularly scheduled call, is set to speak with Mr. Obama on the weekend.

BP is arguably the most important company in Britain, where it accounts for one out of every seven pounds paid out to investors as dividends.

BP stock, widely held in both Britain and the U.S., halted its skid Thursday, in part because BP sought to reassure investors about its financial strength and also because stocks broadly rallied. The Dow Jones industrial average had its third-best day of the year as BP shares rose 12 per cent in New York to close at $32.78.

After four trading sessions in which its shares lost a quarter of their value, BP issued a statement before the opening of markets on Thursday, declaring that it has "significant capacity and flexibility in dealing with the cost of responding to the incident, the environmental remediation and the payment of legitimate claims."

BP, which produces more oil than any other publicly traded oil company, said high crude prices have buoyed the company, which is "generating significant additional cash flow."

Analysts have openly speculated about the firm's long-term viability as well as whether the company will cut its dividend. "Investors will want to see the board reiterate confidence in the management team and give a clear signal on whether it will bow to pressure on the dividend," said an analyst at investment bank Morgan Stanley who declined to be named.

At the close of markets Thursday, the yield on BP stock was 11.5 per cent, a level far higher than its rivals, suggesting that many investors expect the dividend to be cut.

Also Thursday, BP said it was doing a better job of capturing oil from the Gulf spill. A containment cap installed last week captured about 16,000 barrels of oil on Wednesday, the company said, up from 15,000 on Tuesday.

No one knows how much oil is being spewed into the Gulf and BP didn't quantify it. The company did say skimming operations at the surface of the water have recovered almost 400,000 barrels of "oily liquid."

Work continues to improve the capture of the leaking oil, and BP expects progress to be made over the next few weeks. However, the relief wells that will finally halt the spill are not expected to be completed before August.

BP continues to dole out cash to deal with the spill, pegging the total cost to date at $1.43-billion. The company's market value has been nearly halved to about $100-billion since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank on April 22.

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Timeline of BP's history

1901: English businessman William D'Arcy sends an oil exploration team to Persia.

1908: Seven years later, the team's first oil strike shoots into the sky.

1909: The Anglo-Persian Oil Company is formed.

1914: The British government becomes a major shareholder in Anglo-Persian after First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill recommends the Royal Navy switch from coal- to oil-fuelled technology.

1917: Anglo-Persian buys British Petroleum from British government. The firm was a subsidiary of a German company, seized by British government at start of First World War.

1932: Competition among gasoline providers soars. BP creates publicity by commissioning young artists to illustrate unique ads.

1951: Iran's democratically elected government, led by Mohammed Mossadegh, nationalizes oil industry. He is overthrown in 1953 by U.S.- and U.K.-backed coup and Shah of Iran becomes head of state.

1954: Anglo-Persian renames itself British Petroleum.

1969: BP discovers oil in Alaska, which leads to construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

1978: BP service stations in Britain hand out Smurf figurines, igniting a frenzy for the toys.

1979: The Islamic Revolution ends BP's operations in Iran.

1987: British government sells its stake in BP and the company is fully privatized.

1989: BP acquires oil company Sohio and later merges with Amoco, Veba Oel (formerly Aral), Arco, and Burmah-Castrol.

2000: BP launches its current green-yellow-and-white sunburst logo.

2008: The giant Thunder Horse floating platform opens in the Gulf of Mexico, capable of producing 250,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas a day.

2010: Deepwater Horizon rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a massive oil spill.

Tim Kiladze; Source: BP website







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+0.59%37.68
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Morgan Stanley
+0.71%94.16

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