BP shares recover from weak start in London ahead of chairman’s meeting with President Obama

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BP shares steady ahead of White House meeting

LONDON — Shares in BP PLC recovered from a drop on the open in London Wednesday ahead of what promises to be a tense meeting between the oil company’s chairman and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.

Obama has vowed to make BP pay for all of the damage caused by its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, and has demanded that the company set up an independently controlled fund to assure that it will pay.

“I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company’s recklessness,” Obama said in an address from the White House on Tuesday.

Obama has invited BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who has kept a very low profile since the leak erupted eight weeks ago, to the White House meeting.

Shares were down 0.6 percent at 339.7 pence ($5.03) as the London Stock Exchange opened Wednesday, but then moved higher to around 344 pence in the first 20 minutes of trading. Shares fell as low as 338 pence on Tuesday.

BP had said in a statement on Tuesday that it shares Obama’s goal of “shutting off the well as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast. We look forward to meeting with President Obama tomorrow for a constructive discussion about how to best achieve these mutual goals.”

Obama has come under pressure for his response to the crisis.

An Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday found 52 percent of those surveyed don’t approve of Obama’s handling of the spill, but 83 percent disapprove of BP’s performance.