BP faces the hurricane, financial and real

Almost seven weeks after the explosion on its Deepwater Horizon oil rig, BP - the UK’s largest corporation - is in “financial meltdown”, leads The Independent. Since the 20 April accident which killed eleven workers, an estimated 75 million litres of crude oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, while a colossal €50 billion has been wiped off the value of the energy company’s shares. Following the latest failure to cap the leak, “the share price of BP dropped by another dizzying 13 per cent, causing alarm far beyond the oil industry,” the London daily reports. With latest hopes focussed on a “top hat” containment dome to cap the leaking oil, a new danger lurks. Although the €808m cost for the clean-up remains manageable, and the group generated nearly €24 billion last year, hurricane season is imminent. “Meteorologists are predicting a tumultuous 2010 after two relatively quiet years… Not only will storms put a stop to clean-up operations… they could spread the slick way beyond its existing extent.”