© BP p.l.c.
Officials at the London FTSE stock index have announced that they will be dropping BP from their list of ethical businesses after difficulties in cleaning up the Gulf oil spoil earlier this year.
The index, known as the FTSE4Good Ethical Investment Index, will no longer feature BP as of September 18. The index is used by many money managers to check up on companies before including them in portfolios.
A statement by the FTSE claims that its decision “followed consideration of the company’s response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the environmental and social impact and its history of similar incidents.” A spokesperson also noted that BP’s record was not particularly pristine before the Gulf incident, either.
BP has already been stripped off of the DJ Sustainability Index. As an increasingly larger fraction of investors consider sustainability and ethical business practices when deciding which companies to invest in, the removal from such indexes could lead to investment difficulties for BP down the road.
On Friday BP announced that it would delay the release of its third quarter financial statements by one week in light of accounting difficulties related to the oil spill, which occurred on April 20. The statements will now be released on November 2, rather than October 26. BP earlier had trouble releasing its second quarter figures on top, prompting the delay; BP denies that the delay is the result of discovering new liabilities.
A report related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion, released by BP and placing much of the blame on the contractor hired to drill the well, has come under flak for being too biased in BP’s favor, drawing allegations that they only intend to use it to ward off additional lawsuits.
