BP consults shareholders about possible break up, say reports

Is this due to the belief that they were negligent in any way, or due to the bashing by the US or they want to get out of the US.

Let us know exactly what kind of restructuring they are talking about.

As the report says the sp has gone nowhere in the last 10 years.

In the UK whenever a major oil company anounces high profits there is an outcry and demand for a windfall tax, this won't change in the future.

One reason I sold out years ago and invested in small E&P co's

The Gulf leak illustrates why oil companies make high profits - to pay for such events and the high cost of exploration.

Thern again, some companies have had events just as bad and had to pay no compensation - luck of the draw I guess.

They are better off if they dump the Amaricain arm, they are all momey grabbing croucks there.

BP operation in the USA is Kaput!

they will never get rid of the compensation , penelties, Cleaning, and still sealing the leak which now has a an under groung sweeptrough which require to seal the well alltogether.

only trouble a head. BP USA will end up as a foreclosure.

Lets all stop talking nonsense. We all know this is a typically American ploy. They want the oil - correction : cheap oil and are prepared to get it any old how. So let them stop bleating and pay the same price as other countries and stop using (wasting) so much of it while filling there own greedy little coffers and gas guzzlers.

As for BP, (I'm glad I don't have any shares now) they do need to waken up their own ideas as all the other oil companies do when it comes to environmental issues but as for the greedy compensation ethics of our "allies" let them sing for it. After all their own people own about 33% of the shares anyway.

Agree 100% with smoking gun. Very diificult to operate in the USA as a foreign company and they are blind to their own short comings which are too numerous to post here. They only listen when you push back very hard at them and then they realise there is an educated world outside the shores of the USA. If only Tony Heyward had not been such a pussy cat and hammerd back when he had the chance...... too late now and the mud sticks just like the oil on the beaches.

I hope they hang on in and take them all the way to wire. Its going to be years before the truth is out and plenty of time to recover credibilty. They have a very short memory once the media drop their focus.

Clearly the anti British attitude of obama has played a part in this saga but also in partnership with american big oil its a play to steal BP assets on the cheap. The BP management and the UK government have rolled over like kittens in this matter rather than fight like tigers to remind the yanks that it is their greed for cheap oil which is at the heart of this problem

I hope they survive as they are. The UK needs some big successful world players, paying good dividends. Over the last 5 years factual reporting shows that BP management has had a very bad record for safety. Ironically it seems that Tony Hayward had a genuine intention to introduce a better safety focus. Clearly he does not have the charisma that would be helpful for such intense media scrutiny. He made one serious mistake, by saying that he wanted his life back, which is understandable at a human level but obviously inappropriate in view of the victims of BP's disaster. I think BP will now realise that good management is required. I am sure that over recent years there will have been conflicting opinions. There will have been those who said that more money and time needs to be spent on safety related matters, and others will have been saying, "No it will be all right, let's get on with it." Now events have proved who was right. If BP survives intact they may become a very good company.Also they may well manage to ride out the bad publicity in USA. it. Firstly the public soon forget when the media gets its teeth into something else. Secondly it seems that BP have been pretty free with compensation money. Thirdly, it is obviously inappropriate for BP to take an aggressive line while the oil leak is still a threat, but later it can be pointed out that other organisations have been less than perfect. Presumably Transocean and Haliburton must have thought BP's decisions were reasonable. Why didn't the blow out preventer work? Also, the regulatory authorities seem to have been ridiculously relaxed. Subsequent enquiries may discover that something happened that no one had expected. Standby for the oil drilling industry to take a major step upwards in safety. BTW I sold my shares at 403 and rebought them at 303

I see our new "illustrious" leader Mr Cameron is now on the US carpet. No doubt grovelling like his political counterparts & Tony Hayward et al. How pathetic. This country was at one time renowned for its fighting spirit - clearly long gone. The USA is looking for scapegoats - see how desparate they are re "BP to blame for Lockerbie" fiasco. I'm not pro-Europe, but this fiasco is certainly moving me away fro the so-called "special relationship"