Wednesday June 2,2010
BP is facing growing speculation it will be vulnerable to a takeover bid as uncertainties and costs mount in the wake of the oil giants latest failure to halt the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The companys shares plummeted by 64¾p to 430p, wiping £12billion off its market value, prompting analysts to warn the dividend was under threat and the group could fall prey to a rival, such as Exxon Mobil, Conoco, Chevron or even Royal Dutch Shell.
BP said yesterday the spill cost had risen to $990million (£680million) but is likely to grow significantly as the company continues to combat the leak and faces the prospect of litigation and punitive fines in the United States.
Analysts have estimated the eventual cost and liabilities could surmount $15 billion.
Arbuthnot Securities analyst Dr Dougie Youngson said: If we are being honest, no one really knows how big these could be.
He said the key question was now can BP survive? rather than if the dividend will be cut or chief executive Tony Hayward will go as the company faces a major financial impact from the spill.
Youngson was increasingly worried about the emotive language coming from the US administration and the reputational damage.
He warned the situation has a real possibility of breaking the company and it was difficult to see how BP can recover.
The likeliest bidders will be American, with the US unlikely to sanction the sale of strategically important assets to the Chinese or to Shell, with British oil companies in bad ordure in the States.
However, one analyst said no one would buy a group with open-ended liabilities through lawsuits, while another argued the group was financially strong enough.
He said: The dividend is under threat but the liabilities will be paid over many years.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
