BP a buy??

[Breand]

For the next few years there going to be facing a lot of law suits. Even the "State of Alabama" is planning on suing them immediately or if they don't pay within a reasonable time to sue them then. Depends on who gets elected to be the new Governor on Nov 2. I'm also going to assume that Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and probably Texas will be filing suits shortly as well.

The state government is hurting for cash so they are probably going to sue them for some ridiculous amount of money. If they do that then you can bet Mississippi and Louisiana will immediately do the same. That isn't even taking into account all of the personal and group suits that will follow.



So the stock may not pay dividends until all of these lawsuits are cleared up. But, I have no clue. I'm not a financial analysts.

Everyone and their mothers sued Exxon for the Valdez disaster and the company kept all of the cases grinding through the system for 15 years when they were finally required to pay a small fraction of what they were sued for. The same will happen here. You can't go up against Big Oil and expect to win. Oh and you can still go to Prince William Sound with a shovel and hit oil about 4 inches below the ground.

[Jakensama]

Yup, my aunt finally got her settlemnt a couple years back and it was a fraction of what she should have over a decade too late.. big oil can buy politicians a lot easier than your donations can.

[Vanraw]

For the next few years there going to be facing a lot of law suits. Even the "State of Alabama" is planning on suing them immediately or if they don't pay within a reasonable time to sue them then. Depends on who gets elected to be the new Governor on Nov 2. I'm also going to assume that Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and probably Texas will be filing suits shortly as well.

The state government is hurting for cash so they are probably going to sue them for some ridiculous amount of money. If they do that then you can bet Mississippi and Louisiana will immediately do the same. That isn't even taking into account all of the personal and group suits that will follow.



So the stock may not pay dividends until all of these lawsuits are cleared up. But, I have no clue. I'm not a financial analysts.

The Stock will absolutely reinstate a dividend. I have no doubt of this. However it might not be as sweet of a yield as it was before the spill.

As to law suits, yes the states will sue, and they will try to get huge chunks. Their tactic wont be ecological or environmental. States like LA and MS have a history of not giving a shit about pollution or its impact on citizens. They will sue for lost revenue related to tourism. And BP will say, but I gave you 20 billion, and guess what the tourism issue was more about the economy then the spill. And then the start of the 15 year "lawyer get rich" process will begin.

Keep in mind that this is a company that make 75 billion a quarter with 14 billion in gross profit quarter after quarter after quarter...... So think about the 60 billion in gross profit a year. Now Last quarter they lost 19 billion so that is a shift of 33 billion, and the bulk of the immediate cost is behind them. And they are selling some assets to bay for the hit. They will return to the 50 billion annual profit mark in short order. And they will have to pay a dividend on it. They are not a growth company. The only way to get investors is by paying a dividend.

[Vllad]

Zouji,

You could make an argument that the businesses hurt by the oil spill were hurt more by media that played the spill up then they were by the spill itself.

Tourism wasn't killed by the oil spill it was killed by the media. The shrimp business might be important locally but it is insignificant in the over all sceme of things.


Vllad

[Zouji]

Oh I know the media has played a huge part in diverting people from the area.

[Slamz]

You could make an argument that the businesses hurt by the oil spill were hurt more by media that played the spill up then they were by the spill itself.

That's what I hear from a shrimp boat captain I know down there. He says that the shrimp are fine, the catches are good but people aren't buying shrimp like they used to, apparently because of fears of contamination.

[Jakensama]

Well I wouldn't exactly trust the fisherman saying "My wares are fine" - but yeah I htink the damage is overstated.

[Slamz]

I don't buy shrimp from him anyway so no reason to suspect he's lying. And I have yet to hear any news reports of "contaminated shrimp" (or fish or anything else).

I think a lot of it is just a media bogeyman. "We don't need facts! This is about the environment!"