The government of Great Britain expressed its opposition to any potential takeover of BP PLC, one of the largest petroleum concerns in the world, which had been seriously weakened by the huge bill incurred after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010.
Prime Minister David Cameron has been trying to present Great Britain as a welcoming destination for foreign investments, but this approach is unacceptable in the context of BP. According to the Financial Times, British officials made it clear that the government is not going to stay neutral in response to the attempt of a foreign takeover of the petroleum giant.
Analysts and experts have already mentioned that the world’s largest non-state oil company, US Exxon Mobil, might express an interest in purchasing BP. However, the British authorities told the Financial Times that the government would be skeptical about any takeover of the company, even involving Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the Anglo-Dutch corporation, instead of ExxonMobil. British officials want the country to keep two of the world’s oil majors.
