BP shares rise, spill fund provides certainty

(Reuters) - Shares in BP rose on Thursday more than 8 percent in its first session in London since the great oil agreed a fund of 20,000 million dollars for claims related to oil spills and suspended its dividend.

"A significant part of uncertainty is already resolved," said Evgeny Solovyov, an analyst at Societe Generale.

"Now they have the political agreement and now we have much more visibility for potential costs. This is the most important factor, so no one can speak of apocalyptic scenarios," he added.
At 1204 GMT. the titles of BP rose 7.8 percent and was one of the main thrust of the British benchmark index responded to the positive performance of New York, where the previous session closed with a gain of 1.5 percent.

"The dividend cut is probably not good news, but (...) I think what it shows is that BP will not explode on it and it should relieve some of the political pressure," said Peter Hitchens, analyst at Panmure Gordon.

The company has been under increasing pressure from the United States government while the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and meets 59 days.
BP Chief Executive will be presented at a hearing of the U.S. Congress on Thursday to explain the events that led to the spill and to answer questions about attempts to clean up the mess.