Fitch: BP Unlikely To Have To Sell Assets To Fund Spill Costs

LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP) is unlikely to have to sell assets to pay the costs of its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the company will probably not be broken up as a consequence of the environmental disaster, said representatives of Fitch Ratings Wednesday. "We expect BP to make it through the challenge of this," without being broken up, said Richard Hunter, Fitch's Head of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific Corporate Finance. Fitch estimates BP's liability for containment, cleanup and compensation resulting from the oil spill will be around $6 billion, said Jeffrey Woodruff, Senior Director in Fitch's Europe, Middle East and Africa Energy team. Civil penalties for the spill could be between $2 billion and $8 billion, he said. BP could fund these costs from its balance sheet without needing to sell assets, he said. Fitch downgraded BP long-term debt six notches to just above junk level Tuesday on fears that the U.S. government would force it to pay billions of dollars up front into an escrow account to pay spill cleanup and compensation. Company website: http://www.fitchratings.com -By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 16, 2010 10:09 ET (14:09 GMT)