BP: No dividend to be paid this year
WASHINGTON
BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg made the announcement Wednesday
after emerging from the White House where he and other BP
executives met for four hours with President Barack Obama. BP
shares jumped as Svanberg spoke and were up 3.6 to $32.53 in
afternoon trading in New York.
BP said in a statement that it has canceled a dividend payment --
totaling about $2.6 billion -- scheduled for June 21 and that it
won't declare a dividend for the second and third quarters.
Svanberg also confirmed that the British oil giant has agreed to
set aside an initial $20 billion to pay the victims of the oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Obama and key members of Congress in recent weeks have pressed
BP to suspend the dividend payment and give assurances that the
company will meet its commitments to Gulf coast residents and
businesses economically harmed by the spill.
BP said it will consider resuming dividend payments in 2011 when
it issues results for the fourth quarter of this year.
Company officials also agreed
to set aside an initial $20 billion to pay the victims of the oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico, calling it "an important step toward
making the people of the Gulf Coast whole again."
Obama also announced that BP had voluntarily agreed to establish a
$100 million fund to compensate laid-off oil right workers affected
by his six-month drilling moratorium.
