The company, Moex Offshore, a subsidiary of Mitsui, held a 10% stake in the venture, and the settlement will see them pay $1.1bn to BP.
BP made clear in its announcement that the settlement is not an admission of guilt but goes some way to recognising the findings from the presidential commission that identified a number of separate risk factors that contributed to the overall disaster.
It is also being speculated that the settlement is about half of what BP might have been seeking in its lawsuit (itself a counter suit to a Moex lawsuit) but obviously heads off what might have been years of suits and counter suits between the two companies whilst also starting to rebuild bridges between the two.
BP went onto announce that the $1bn would go straight into the $20bn trust raised by BP "to meet individual, business and government claims, as well as the cost of the Natural Resource Damages from the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig."
BP's CEO, Bob Dudley applauded the Moex decision by saying that "Moex is the first company to join BP in helping to meet our shared responsibilities in the Gulf, and Mitsui, through Moex USA Corp, is showing great corporate citizenship in standing behind its affiliate and making a contribution to meet the costs of this tragic accident".
Dudley also took the opportunity to reference its remaining partners in the venture and called on them "to follow the lead of the Moex and Mitsui parties.”
Elsewhere, but along the same lines, Anadarko shares also moved up on Friday on speculation that they might also be considering a settlement of claims with BP at a level less than current estimates.
Dudley also took the opportunity to reference its remaining partners in the venture and called on them "to follow the lead of the Moex and Mitsui parties.”
Elsewhere, but along the same lines, Anadarko shares also moved up on Friday on speculation that they might also be considering a settlement of claims with BP at a level less than current estimates.
Anadarko, owner of a 25% stake in the Macondo well, have previously refused to participate in clean up costs standing behind their claim that the disaster is down to BP's negligence.
Hopefully, this might signal some thawing towards BP from its venture partners which, as mentioned earlier might go some way to rebuilding bridges, whilst also contributing to the financial settlement, and recognition that, potentially, BP is not solely responsible for the human and environmental disaster that took place in the Gulf of Mexico.
Finally, it is always interesting to understand FTSE100 weightings and a report from Reuters on Friday ( www.reuters.com: BP pushes FTSE up on spill payout) suggests that a rise of 3.7% in BP on Thursday (about 16p), added 13 points to the FTSE 100.
Its also nice and very positive to see the various broker/analyst upgrades now that some of the uncertainty has been removed from the shares with the Moex settlement (and possibly more); and an assumed sum of the parts valuation of 600p.
The only way is up then. Lets hope so but don't hold your breath!
Its also nice and very positive to see the various broker/analyst upgrades now that some of the uncertainty has been removed from the shares with the Moex settlement (and possibly more); and an assumed sum of the parts valuation of 600p.
The only way is up then. Lets hope so but don't hold your breath!
No comments:
Post a Comment