BP faces shareholder discontent over Canadian oil |
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| Economy | |
| Written by Roberta Murray | |
| Monday, 08 February 2010 | |
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Morning Business News, Monday 08 April: BP, Dubai World, BT and Reckitt Benckiser.
BP (LON:BP) is the latest oil major to face a shareholder revolt over its investments in Canada’s controversial oil sands. BP in January said that its Sunrise Oil Sands project with Husky Energy Inc. will cost less than estimated because of an improved design. The first phase of the project, which may yield at least 3.7 billion barrels of oil, will cost $2.5 billion, down from an earlier prediction of about $4 billion, Calgary- based Husky said on Jan. 20. Husky completed front end engineering and design, and has the necessary approvals from the Canadian province of Alberta. While BP congratulates itself on overcoming the barrier of the costs associated with extraction of oil from sand, "the real limits to oilsands development are going to be whether or not the sector can clean up its pollution of water, eliminate the production of toxic tailings waste and restore natural habitat at the same pace it destroys it," writes Marlo Raynolds for the Edmonton Journal. Dubai WorldDebt-laden Middle Eastern conglomerate Dubai World is preparing a firesale of some of its most prestigious assets including the cruise liner QE2 and circus troupe Cirque du Soleil. The disposals are part of an effort to pay down some of Dubai World's $22bn (£14bn) of debts. Last week Istithmar, the investment arm of Dubai World, started the process by selling a 13pc stake in Indian domestic airline SpiceJet. It has also entered into talks to sell Inchcape Shipping Services, the UK port agent, with a mooted $700m price tag, the Telegraph reports. BTBT (LON:BT.A) is preparing to open up its underground cable ducts so that rivals can run their own high-speed broadband networks through the telecoms company’s infrastructure. Action by BT could allow competitors to lay their optical fibre cables without the expense of digging up pavements, the FT reports. Reckitt BenckiserThe best-paid FTSE 100 boss has told The Times that he is worth his £36.8m pay packet. Bart Becht, chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB), said that his company’s shareholder returns justified his pay. He said: “We pay for performance. It’s very straightforward. There’s a very clear link between stock awarded and shareholder value.” The maker of Cillit Bang and Vanish has delivered higher total shareholder returns than any other FTSE 100 company apart from British American Tobacco in the past decade.
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