BP's shares suffered their worst one-day fall for 18 years yesterday, as investors reacted with dismay to its failure to stop its leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, cutting the company's market value to two-thirds of its level before the accident.
The market measure of the risk that BP will default on its debts also rose sharply, as the US administration ratcheted up the pressure on the company over the leak.
BP is continuing its efforts to control the leak, trying to fit a containment cap to the top of the blow-out preventer, the stack of valves on the seabed that was intended to prevent releases of oil and gas but failed in the accident on April 20.