BP has taken a tongue lashing from the US president but now also finds its Siberian operations threatened.
In response to charges from some critics of his inaction over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill the US President, Barack Obama, has turned on BP.
He defended his actions and said that he doesn’t just “sit around talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick”. He also states that he wants to make sure that everyone who has suffered should be properly compensated. He has also railed against the BP CEO, Tony Hayward who has reportedly in the past said such things as “I want my life back” and that the Gulf was “a big ocean” and that “the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest.” The President said that Mr Hayward would not be working for him after talking like that.
The President has constantly promised to hold BP to account and make sure it pays for the damage.
Whilst this storm continues Gazprom, the Russian controlled gas monopoly, looks set to add to BPs woes by pulling any hope that they would buy the Kovytka field from TNK-BP. This was a deal worth $1 billion.
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According to the Times Gazprom says that it does not need this field as it has plenty elsewhere. Dropping energy demand and prices has also had an impact.
The Kovytka field is estimated to contain two trillion cubic metres of gas, which the Russian authorities want as a strategic energy asset. There has been an ongoing battle for TNK-BP and its arm that controls Kovytka, Rusia petroleum, has filed for bankruptcy. Now with no buyer the future of the field is uncertain.
The Times also points out that the Swedish BP Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, who joined the firm on January 1st 2010 has lost a cool £1.4 million on BP shares.
