BP Mulls Big Restructure Post Oil Spill - Sunday Times

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Directors at BP PLC (BP.LN) have begun canvassing shareholders about plans to restructure the oil major in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, U.K. newspaper the Sunday Times reports. Options for "Future BP" include splitting up the group by selling its refineries and petrol 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 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 non-growth 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 Sunday Times. Another investor said: "BP seems to have accepted that it will be a smaller business. It is prepared to consider anything, the paper said. -By London Energy Desk, Dow Jones Newswires +44 207 842 9262; selina.williams@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 18, 2010 05:16 ET (09:16 GMT)