An oil industry leader does not think BP’s troubles in the Gulf of Mexico will lead to the offshore giant cutting back investment in the North Sea.
The comment yesterday from Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil and Gas UK, came as the industry body launched its annual economic report.
There have been worries that BP’s need to raise money to pay for the gulf spill would lead to its investment in the North Sea being reduced.
However, Mr Webb said the company was a very significant player in the area, being the largest single investor.
He added: “I don’t see any threat to that.”
Mr Webb was also asked whether companies operating in the North Sea could face a regulatory backlash following the gulf disaster.
He said: “We already have quite a different regime over here. I wouldn’t have thought changes in the US would have a large impact over here.”
Mr Webb said the US regulatory regime could end up more closely resembling the one in the UK.
Meanwhile, BP has ruled out a share issue as talk persisted of interest by sovereign wealth funds in the British oil major – boosting its shares yesterday even as its Gulf of Mexico oil slick spread to the Texas coast.
On the 78th day after an explosion killed 11 people and burst an oil well that scientists say is spewing out up to 60,000 barrels a day, BP shares were trading near a two-week high, supported by a brokerage upgrade and reassurances that it had no plans to issue shares to help pay for the spill.
Shares in BP have drawn some support from talk that it is a takeover target and has approached sovereign wealth funds with offers of a stake to ward off hostile bids.
Yesterday, a source in the United Arab Emirates added to the speculation sparked by weekend press reports, saying BP executives had held talks with a number of sovereign wealth funds, including ones in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore.
Meanwhile, tar balls found on a Texas beach were confirmed as the first evidence that gushing crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon well had reached all the gulf states.
The US Coastguard said it was possible that the oil had attached itself to a ship and had not been carried naturally by currents to the barrier islands of the eastern Texas coast, but there was no way to know for certain.
The amount discovered was tiny in comparison to what has coated beaches so far in the hardest-hit parts of the gulf coast in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.