BP shares plunge as spill continues

This week, BP's shares suffered their worst one-day decline since 1992 as a result of their inability to stem the Deepwater Horizon leak.

BP's shares suffered a 13% fall this week their worst one-day decline since 1992. That followed the failure to stem the Deepwater leak, this time through firing mud and debris into the well. Around £40bn, over a third of BP's pre-accident market capitalisation, has been wiped out in the past few weeks. The slick is now the size of the Home Counties and bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill. It's "the greatest environmental disaster of its kind" in US history, said President Obama. The government has now called for a criminal investigation into the spill.

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