You didn't think BP was going to suddenly behave transparently, did you? At this point it seems highly likely that BP is going to take in outside funding to get through this patch regardless of what their PR team says. A significant change of investors could have an impact on how BP handles the clean up effort in the Gulf of Mexico which is why the US had asked to be notified of any changes. The US government is holding a pretty strong deck of cards in this game as they are the largest vendor supplying the DoD. Canceling government contracts would have a very severe impact on BPs business.
One would hope that the Obama administration is keeping close tabs on any new developments with BP and acts decisively to any changes that may potentially disrupt BP from fulfilling the mission that was promised in the Gulf. BBC:
The US government has asked BP to tell it of any major asset sales or merger deals in advance, as it continues to keep a close eye on the oil giant.
The highly unusual request came in a letter from the US Department of Justice dated 23 June.
BP told the BBC it had yet to respond to the letter.
