UK Says BP Is Fine But US SEC Says No Way

If you want to be on the NYSE you must play by SEC rules.

BP opens the coffers as profits soar
By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor

BP OPENED its coffers to investors yesterday, promising a step change in the level of the dividend payout. But even as it revealed record profits of $16.2 billion (£8.7 billion), the oil company admitted that it had failed to replace fully the four million barrels of oil and gas that it pumped out of the ground each day last year.

Using UK accounting rules, Britain’s largest company more than filled its tank, adding 10 per cent more oil to its reserves than it extracted and sold in 2004. However, the company will deliver a very different figure to the US Securities and Exchange Commission when it files its annual statement on reserves later this year.

Under the stricter SEC rules, BP replaced only 89 per cent of the barrels it produced. Excluding joint ventures, notably its Russian acquisition TNK-BP, BP’s replacement ratio falls to 78 per cent.

Times Online