BP Plc couldn?t sell bonds and Bank of America refused to buy its oil at the height of the Gulf of Mexico spill, the former and current chief executive officers of the company said.
?Prior to the meeting with the White House, the capital markets were effectively closed to BP,? Tony Hayward, who stepped down as CEO at the end of September, said in a BBC Radio 4 preview of a program to air on BBC 2 television today. ?We were not able to borrow in the capital markets either short or medium-term debt at all.?
The comments are the first Hayward has given in an interview since resigning and show how much the company has recovered since the crisis. The company?s shares rose to a five- month high today and it sold $3.5 billion of debt at the end of September.
BP shares rose as much as 3.4 percent to 459.2 pence in London, the highest since May 28. The stock traded at 456.3 pence as of 12:23 p.m., 30 percent lower than before the April 20 accident that led to the biggest U.S. oil spill.
Hayward met with President Barack Obama on June 17 and agreed to scrap dividends and set up a $20 billion fund for victims as the runaway Macondo well gushed almost 5 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. Credit-default swaps on BP bonds before the meeting showed investors pricing in a 39 percent risk of default.
?Very Difficult?
?It is very difficult to come back from that,? said Robert Dudley, who became CEO on Oct. 1, on the program. ?These were frightening days, with a company the size of BP, its reputation, what it does, you almost can?t quite believe how close you were.?
BP also faced companies that refused to buy its oil as the threat of bankruptcy loomed, Dudley said.
?Bank of America called, wouldn?t buy crude from us,? he said. ?Suppliers were asking for money up front. This was a very unusual environment for BP.?
BP has set aside $39.9 billion to pay for the spill. The company returned to profit in the third quarter after a record loss in the previous three-month period.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Swint in London at bswint@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net
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