[Cid_Yama]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')NDER-FIRE oil company BP Plc has started canvassing shareholders about a restructuring in the wake of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill which could include a break up of the business, the Sunday Times reported.

The newspaper, citing unnamed BP insiders, said options included selling the group's refineries and petrol stations, scaling back its US operations and ramping-up in-house engineering instead of outsourcing.

These are on top of the sale of about 10 per cent of its assets, including its stake in the giant Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska, the Sunday Times added.

A BP spokesman said it did not comment on rumour and speculation.

BP, which has already divested much of its downstream operations in recent years, said last month it planned to sell around US$10 billion (S$14 billion) of assets to help pay for costs from the worst offshore oil spill in US history, but declined to say which assets were up for grabs.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', '
')Sounds like BP is either trying to avoid paying for the clean-up, or using the threat of Bankruptcy as leverage against the US government.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'T')here is a third possibility worth considering----- perhaps BP is selling off assets to raise the tens of billions of dollars they need to pay for the clean-up.

[americandream]

In their greedy haste, they delivered the coup de grace. I can't see how they can escape the financial consequences of this.