Broker snap: Evolution happy with BP's Macondo settlement

16th Dec 2011 12:28

Evolution Securities has reiterated its buy rating on oil titan BP, highlighting today's settlement with Cameron International Corporation and rumours of farm-in talks with Ophir Energy.US-listed oil and gas equipment firm Cameron International Corporation, the company which designed and manufactured the Deepwater Horizon 'blowout preventer', is to pay BP $250m to settle all claims between them related to last year's oil disaster, it was announced today.Analyst Richard Griffith said: "Although the figure is relatively modest...it is an acknowledgement from another party that the accident was multi-faceted with multiple partners to share the blame."Furthermore, Griffith mentions reports from the Daily Telegraph that BP is in discussions with Ophir Energy regarding a farm-in agreement at Ophir's Tanzanian acreage. He thinks that it would make more sense for BP to snap up Ophir outright than to farm-in to its operations.The broker sticks with a 510p target price, but says that this is at the lower-end of a valuation range where the upside is 771p per share.Shares were falling 0.84% to 444.1p by 12:28.BC