BP one year on: How events unfolded

A year on from the explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig that caused one of the worst environmental disasters in US history and saw the oil giant's share price plunge more than 50% in 50 days, we recap the key events...

2010

20 April - Explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 people and injured 17.

26 May – Over 130 lawsuits relating to the spill had been filed against one or more of BP, Transocean, Cameron International Corporation, and Halliburton Energy Services. The group said 23,000 individual claims had already been filed.

9 June - BP's stock hit its lowest level since August 1996, falling 52% in 50 days on the New York Stock Exchange, from $60.57 on 20 April to $29.20.

16 June - After meeting President Obama, BP executives agreed to create a $20bn spill response fund, to be paid for by a cut in BP’s capital spending budget, the sale of $10bn in assets, and drop to its dividend.

17 June – BP announced it will suspend its dividend for the remainder of 2010.

25 June - BP's market value reached a one-year low. The company's total value lost since the spill was $105bn.

29 June - Speculation of a takeover bid from Exxon or Shell at a presumed price of £88bn rife in the press.

15 July - Leak finally plugged after three months. About 4.9m barrels of crude oil had spilled into the ocean.

1 October – Former TNK-BP chief executive Bob Dudley replaced Tony Hayward as CEO.

8 November - BP announced it would halve its previous £6bn annual dividend when it reinstated payouts early the next year. The firm’s payout accounted for one-sixth of the UK market dividend.

16 December - BP saw its shares drop 3% to 461p as the US government revealed plans to sue for gross negligence over the spill, and seek $21bn or more in damages.

2011

1 February – BP reinstated dividend in fourth quarter of seven cents per share, after nine months of suspension.

25 March – BP shares dived again as a planned tie-up with Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft was blocked by the courts.

14 April - Angry scenes as protestors stormed BP's annual general meeting.

18 April - BP faced calls from some of its biggest shareholders to sell off up to half its assets as part of a radical restructure. Some of the firm's top 10 shareholders want the company to sell a further $30bn worth of assets on top of the $30bn (£18.37bn) already earmarked for the oil spill fund.

19 April – Day before one-year anniversary of the spill. BP shares closed at 452.5p against a 52-week low of 296p.