UPDATE: BP Investigating Resignation Of Oil Traders In Singapore

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP) is investigating the reasons behind the resignation of some of its traders in Singapore in the "last few weeks," a company spokeswoman said Thursday. The company will share more details in due course, the spokeswoman said when asked to comment on a report in the Business Times newspaper that as many as 18 traders, mainly from its Singapore fuel-oil trading operations, had resigned. The number of resignations involved is more than the usual attrition rate and comes amid some market talk of possible trading losses, the newspaper said, without giving details. "The part about trading losses is unfounded," the spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires. The Business Times report said the company has "re-staffed" and brought its operations back to normal. BP, which is under intense pressure to contain a disastrous crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has a large trading team in Singapore, and dominates parts of the regional oil market. In 2009, its local unit continued to be the largest marine fuel oil supplier in Singapore, the world's top bunking port by volume, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. Last year 36.4 million tons of bunker fuel were sold to refuel ships in Singapore. In late May, traders said that several BP fuel-oil traders in Singapore had left, including team leader Edmund Lau. BP shares have tanked more than 40% following an explosion at the Macondo well, 80 kilometers off the Louisiana coast, in April that sank the Deepwater Horizon rig and triggered the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history. BP said that it captured about 24,980 barrels of crude from the underwater gusher on Monday, indicating that oil-recovery efforts have stabilized after high seas hindered its efforts late last week. -By Gaurav Raghuvanshi; Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 154; gaurav.raghuvanshi@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 07, 2010 22:03 ET (02:03 GMT)