Investors sell BP stock in wake of dividend fears

The shares were down 10 per cent at one stage – wiping more than 7bn off the stock value of the firm – as nervous investors got out.

The latest setback for BP came amid reports that two United States senators had written to the firm demanding that it set aside $20bn (13.5bn) in a special account to pay for damages and clean-up costs.

BP declined to comment on the letter and said it would not make a statement on dividend payments following the board meeting.

The company's latest update said the cost of the spill had reached $1.6bn (1.1bn) so far and its containment cap on the leaking well had collected around 127,000 barrels of oil.

The firm's shares have now slumped by almost half since the crisis began two months ago when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank with the loss of 11 lives.

The latest tranche of dividend due in July is expected to be worth around 1.7bn.

If the firm were to decide to suspend the dividend it would hit UK pension funds and investors in the US, who hold around 40 per cent of the company's shares.

United States president Barack Obama has summoned BP's chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg to the White House tomorrow to explain what the company is doing to stop the flow of tens of thousands of barrels of oil and how it will compensate the thousands of people affected including fishermen and oil workers.

Under-fire chief executive Tony Hayward faces a stormy grilling in Congress on Thursday which has the potential to reignite transatlantic tensions eased over the weekend in a call between Mr Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron.

During the call the President assured Mr Cameron he had "no interest in undermining BP's value" and the two leaders agreed BP should continue to work intensively to ensure that "all sensible and reasonable steps are taken as rapidly as practicable to deal with the consequences of this catastrophe".

Yesterday BP's shares closed nine per cent lower at 355.45p.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said it had been a "crushing" start to the week for the firm. "It would seem investors are losing their nerve about the potential for any short term recovery," he said.

Obama tries to regain initiative

Trying to seize the initiative in the face of the country's worst environmental disaster, United States President Barack Obama has embarked on a tour of three of the affected Gulf-coast states.

Mr Obama will use his first Oval Office speech as president to address the problem.

The steps add up to Mr Obama's most concerted efforts so far to assert leadership in the face of the spill.

The White House hopes it will be enough to win back the confidence of a sceptical public.