BP Considers Dividend Slash

BP is weighing cutting its second-quarter dividend in response to an angry American public and a furious Obama administration, a consideration that comes on the heels of Feds upping the estimate of oil gushing from the company's well into the Gulf of Mexico. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told The Wall Street Journal: "We are considering all options on the dividend. But no decision has been made." Two options the energy giant might consider include reducing the second quarter dividend, or paying it "scrip," a move akin to an I.O.U. to company shareholders. On Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey announced that BP's well had probably been spewing 20,000 to 40,000 barrels a day before BP successfully curbed some of the flow, a number considerably higher than previous estimates of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.