【英语国际】迅速应对漏油事件 英国石油筹资显实力

The oil leak into the Gulf of Mexico is as bad as ever and may continue for another month, but BP is piling up cash as fast as possible and looks increasingly like it can meet whatever financial demands the cleanup places on it.

Fears last month over whether the spill could push BP into bankruptcy look like little more than irrational panic now.

Back in the first half of June the picture looked very different. BP's shares were in free-fall, dropping 16% one afternoon in New York, the cost of insuring its debt was ballooning and there were genuine fears that demands for upfront compensation from Congress and the White House could push the company into insolvency.

BP's June 16 deal with the White House to set up an independently-administered $20 billion fund to cover oil spill liabilities extinguished that particular fire and the company has been working hard since then to calm its shaken investors.

Shortly after the deal with the White House was announced, BP's Chief Financial Officer Byron Grote said:

'We're taking a very prudent financial position during this period because of the uncertainties. While there is uncertainty out there, the company believes it's prudent to continue to bolster its balance sheet to be able to address any uncertainties that might exist in the future.'

BP has gone a long way towards that goal.

The company had a prior $5.25 billion credit line available with a number of banks and, in a show of support since the oil spill, eight or nine banks have offered additional standby credit lines totaling $9 billion. Add that to the $5 billion in cash BP already had on its balance sheet in early June, the $2.6 billion BP saved by canceling its first quarter dividend and another $2 billion loan secured against its stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft and BP already has war chest exceeding the size of the compensation fund.

BP's plan to sell $10 billion of assets to boost its balance sheet could pay off quickly if reports are correct that China National Offshore Oil Company could buy BP's stake in Pan American Energy for around $9 billion within weeks.

There may be further sources of cash, should BP need it. The company's gearing is at the bottom of its 20% to 30% target range, although borrowing would probably be an expensive last resort following recent downgrades to its credit rating from Fitch and Moody's.

There are also reports that a number of sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East are ready to pump billions in fresh equity into BP, although it's hard to see such a dilution going down well with existing BP investors.

And despite BP's severe problems in the U.S., the vast bulk of its global operations continue as normal, generating around $30 billion a year in free cash flow.

The Head of Libya's National Oil Company, Shokri Ghanem, certainly gave a vote of confidence in BP's ability to survive the current crisis. 'I still have trust in BP...It's a good opportunity for bargain hunters,' he said, adding that he will recommend buying a stake in BP to the Libyan sovereign wealth fund.

So BP will live to fight another day, but its bosses may not. The need to restore the company's image and rebuild relations with the authorities in the U.S. make it increasingly likely that one or both of BP's public faces during the crisis--Chief Executive Tony Hayward and Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg--will have to take one for the team.

墨西哥湾漏油事件仍然一团糟，这种状况仍可能持续至下个月。不过英国石油公司(BP)正在尽快筹集大量现金，目前看来，该公司似乎有能力满足清污工作所需的任何资金需求。

AFP/Getty Images 为漏油事件忙得焦头烂额的英国石油董事长思文凯与首席执行长唐熙华（左）目前看来，上个月对该公司可能会因本次漏油事件破产的担忧只不过是非理性恐慌而已。

6月上旬时的事态却完全不同。当时英国石油公司的股价直线下滑，纽约市场某日下午即下跌16%，其债务的保险成本急剧上涨，市场的确担心美国国会及白宫提出的前期补偿要求会使英国石油公司陷入破产境地。

6月16日英国石油公司与白宫达成协议，设立一项200亿美元的自主管理基金以支付漏油事故产生的债务，这一协议浇灭了公司会破产的焦虑之火，此后公司一直在努力安抚受惊的投资者。

就在与白宫达成的这项补偿协议宣布后不久，英国石油首席财务长格罗特(Byron Grote)说，由于各种不确定因素，这段时期公司的财务状况处于一个非常审慎的时期。但尽管存在不确定性，公司仍认为，加固资产负债表以便有能力解决未来可能出现的任何不确定问题是明智的。

英国石油公司向着这一目标做了大量的努力。

公司已从多家银行处取得了52.5亿美元的优先信贷额度，自漏油事件发生以来，八、九家银行已提供了总计达90亿美元的额外备用信贷额度以示支持。加之公司6月初帐面已有的50亿美元的现金、公司取消第一季度分红节省下来的26亿美元，及以其在俄罗斯石油巨头Rosneft的持股做抵押获得的20亿美元的贷款，英国石油公司的应急资金已超过赔偿基金所需金额。

有报道称，中国海洋石油总公司(China National Offshore Oil Company)可能会以90亿美元左右的价格在数周内购买英国石油公司在阿根廷油气公司泛美能源公司(Pan American Energy)中的持股。如报道属实，则英国石油公司出售100亿美元资产以加固财务状况的方案很快即获成功。

如果需要，英国石油公司还有其它现金来源渠道。该公司杠杆率目前处于20%至30%目标区间的底部，不过继惠誉(Fitch)及穆迪(Moody's)近期下调其信用评级之后，借贷可能会是成本昂贵的最后一招。

还有报道称，如果英国石油公司增发新股，中东地区不少主权基金准备投入大量资金，尽管这样做，英国石油公司的现有投资者将面临股权稀释之痛。

尽管英国石油公司在美经营面临严重问题，但其全球运作的绝大部分业务仍旧正常，每年产生的自由现金约为300亿美元。

利比亚国家石油公司负责人加尼姆(Shokri Ghanem)无疑对英国石油公司解决当前危机的能力抱有信心。他说，他仍对英国石油公司有信心，这是个逢低买入的好机会。他仍向利比亚国家主权财富基金推荐入股英国石油公司。

由此看来，英国石油公司将继续得以存活，但公司老板们的情况就不同了。要修复公司形象，要重建与美国当局的关系，这使得英国石油公司在本次危机中令公众熟悉的两个人，首席执行长唐熙华(Tony Hayward)与董事长思文凯(Carl-Henric Svanberg)，越来越可能要为公司做点牺牲了。