BP Share News (BP.)

THE NEWS BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) chairman said he expects the company to survive its current crisis. Meanwhile, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward is turning over day-to-day operations of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to a managing director. Some 25,000 barrels of oil were captured Thursday at BP's leaking oil well. The first of two planned relief wells is closing in on BP's Macondo well. In other developments, ratings agency Moody's cut BP's credit rating three notches. Also, BP reportedly has hired advisers to help it sell some assets, and the company's standby loan has increased to $7 billion. THE DETAILS Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said Friday that, while BP is still estimating the costs and damages from the oil spill, he expects the company to emerge from the crisis. "You must remember BP is a very strong company," Svanberg said in an interview with Sky News. "We will come through this." Svanberg also said CEO Hayward was handing day-to-day operations of the Gulf spill response to managing director Bob Dudley. Svanberg declined to speculate on his own or Hayward's future at the company. Svanberg defended BP's actions leading up to and since the spill. Reacting to criticism that BP had cut corners on safety, he said that hadn't been the company's intention. Responders at BP's oil spill captured some 25,000 barrels of oil Thursday, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Friday, up from Thursday's estimate of 16,000 to 17,000 barrels a day. Allen said responders are on track to increase the rate at which they capture oil to 53,000 barrels a day by the end of June. Moody's Investors Service Friday downgraded BP's credit rating three notches as costs and exposure to litigation from the oil spill continue to mount. Moody's lowered BP's senior unsecured ratings to A2 from Aa2. On Thursday, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its rating on BP by two notches; on Tuesday, Fitch Ratings cut BP's long-term debt six notches to just above junk level. The U.S. government-appointed administrator of BP's $20 billion fund for oil-spill damage said he will run his own show as he seeks to improve the claims process set up by BP. "This is a program that has my imprimatur on it, not the [Obama] administration or BP," Kenneth Feinberg said at a joint press conference with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. "It is my program as an independent force." BP has hired advisers to assemble a portfolio of assets that will be sold in the next year to raise more than GBP6.5 billion, Sky News reported on its website Friday. BP has enlisted Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) to draw up a list of possible disposals, it said. BP declined to comment. BP's standby loan has now risen to $7 billion as more banks join a group of lenders supporting BP, a person familiar with the situation said Friday. On June 4, BP said this facility amounted to $5.25 billion. MARKET REACTION BP's stock price fell in Europe but edged up in the U.S. The company's American depositary shares recently rose 0.1% to $31.73; BP was off 0.6% in Europe. The cost of insuring debt issued by BP reached an all-time high. BP's credit-default swaps were at 466 basis points Friday, compared with 470 basis points at Thursday's close, according to Markit. That means it now costs an average of $466,000 a year to insure $10 million of debt issued by BP. CDS are tradable, over-the-counter derivatives that function like a default insurance contract for corporate debt. DOW JONES COVERAGE =WSJ: BP Fund Administrator Promises Speedy Claims Payout BP Chairman: Still Estimating Cost,Damages From Spill--Sky News USCG Adm. Allen: 25,000 B/D Of Oil Captured From Gulf Leak Thu MARKET TALK: BP Share Price To Remain Volatile--RBS =SPIEF: Lukoil Exec: BP Was "Really Unlucky" With Oil Spill =UPDATE: US Gulf Oil Spill May Delay Offshore Output--IEA's Tanaka =BP Oil Spill Loan Rises To $7B As More Banks Show Support-Source =UPDATE: Moody's Downgrades BP Credit; Cites Rising Spill Costs =UPDATE: Moody's Downgrades BP Credit; Cites Rising Spill Costs BP Russia Head: Co Doesn't Plan To Sell Rosneft Shares For more coverage of the oil spill, please search under the code BP. (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 18, 2010 14:19 ET (18:19 GMT)