Options for "Future BP" include splitting up the group by selling its refineries and gas stations, scaling back its American operations and ramping up in house engineering and outsourcing, the paper said. It could also end up focusing instead on exploration in regions such as West Africa and Brazil, according to the report.
The paper quoted [image-nocss] insiders as saying the discussions with shareholders are at an early stage, but will help set the direction of a formal review expected to be launched by BP's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg.
"BP has been a nongrowth company for years, and the market has made it pay for this by demanding a 6% to 7% dividend yield. Now that the dividend has gone, they are starting with a blank sheet of paper and thinking about what the new BP will look like," said one of three top 10 shareholders who spoke to the Times.
Another investor said, "BP seems to have accepted that it will be a smaller business. It is prepared to consider anything."
In response to a request for comment on "Future BP," company spokesperson Scott Dean told CSP Daily News, "We don't comment on rumors about future business deals."
Spinning off the oil major's downstream assets has long been considered moot by analysts and investors, said a separate report by The Daily Mail It accounts for just 3% of group profits, and yet employs the lion's share of BP's workforce, accounting for 50,000 of its 80,000 staff.
BP is also moving ahead with a sale of about 10% of its assets, including its stake in the giant Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska, the report said.
A source told the paper, "All sorts of things have been discussed."
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of speculation regarding BP's future.)
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