From Reuters - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN069191320100706
(My comments in brackets and bold)

“TOP DEVELOPMENTS

· BP ruled out a share issue and talk persisted of sovereign wealth fund interest in the British oil major, boosting its shares on Tuesday even as its Gulf of Mexico oil slick spread to the Texas coast.

· The first of two relief wells seen as the most promising way to plug the leak is close to its target but drilling will be slow and precise in coming weeks, the U.S. official overseeing the spill response said. (If BP predicts August then I will predict November).

· Energy traders are watching two tropical weather systems that have potential to disrupt BP's clean-up of its massive spill. (‘Tis the season, boys. The news is, of course, filled with BP’s financial woes and money-wrangling efforts. Someone pass me a Kleenex, please. There are fewer stories about the people of the Gulf who now stand in food lines to feed their families).

MARKET IMPACT/COMPANIES

· BP shares traded in New York rose nearly 7 percent on Tuesday, while its London shares climbed 3 percent.
· BP shares had lost around half their value since the spill started after an oil rig exploded in the Gulf in late April.
(BP’s first quarter profits for 2010 were approximately $61 million...per day. I think that they’ll be okay).

POLITICS/POLICY

· The Obama administration expects to announce a revised deep-water offshore drilling moratorium in the next few days, the White House said on Thursday.

· The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted to eliminate limits on liability oil companies would face for oil spill damages. The measure now goes before the full Senate. It would also need to win passage in the House of Representatives before becoming law.

· Bipartisan lawmakers on Friday sought tax breaks for mostly small businesses in Gulf states to help cushion the economic blow.
(Do something and do it now and do it right).

ENVIRONMENT

· Initial tests of the dispersant BP is using to break up oil in the Gulf of Mexico show it does not harm endocrine systems in aquatic life, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. (Complete and utter bull but, what the heck, NALCO likes it. Of course, they also make it.
http://lmrk.org/corexit_9500_uscueg.539287.pdf )

· Environmental groups, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard reached tentative agreement on a plan allowing biologists or other trained wildlife observers to accompany oil-incineration vessels at sea to remove as many turtles as possible from designated areas before burning starts.
(Oh now, there’s a thought. Nice that y’all came to some accord. Sucks to be the countless turtles – and others - already incinerated).

· The spill's toll on birds is set to get drastically worse, scientists say. (Ya think?)

CAPTURE/CONTAINMENT/CLEANUP

· Tests on a supertanker adapted to skim large quantities of oily water from the Gulf of Mexico surface are inconclusive because of high seas, ship owner TMT Shipping Offshore said on Monday.

· BP said on Tuesday that its oil-capture systems at the leak in the Gulf of Mexico collected or burned off 24,980 barrels of oil on Monday. (And we would believe them…why?)

· An undetermined amount of oil continued to billow out from under the containment cap and through vents on top into the sea. A team of U.S. scientists estimate the leak is gushing up to 60,000 barrels a day. (That’s 2.5 million gallons to us non-oil PR people).

SPECIAL REPORT
· A nuclear fix to the leaking well has been touted online and in the occasional newspaper op-ed for weeks now. Washington has repeatedly dismissed the idea and BP execs say they are not considering an explosion -- nuclear or otherwise.”

(Oh…no nuclear explosions beneath the Gulf? Gee, why not? It would get rid of those pesky marine species that so irk Rush Limbaugh – he has to turn out his beach-facing lights during nesting season, poor guy).

Forgive me my sarcasm - it's all that left to us these days.