BP May Seek to Raise $50 Billion for Oil Spill Cleanup Costs, Times Says

BP Plc is seeking to raise $50 billion to cover the cost of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Sunday Times said, without saying where it got the information.

The first $10 billion may come from a bond sale this week and the company is talking to banks to get a $20 billion loan, the newspaper said. The remaining $20 billion would come from asset sales over two years, the paper said.

BP wants to move quickly to raise cash because of concern its ratings may be downgraded, boosting its borrowing costs, the paper said.

“We need to have an unusually strong cash position,” Andrew Gowers, head of communications of London-based BP, said when contacted by phone today. He declined to provide more details.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Glover in London at johnglover@bloomberg.net

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