BP shutdown weighs on FTSE

BP dropped 2.12% to 622.5p after confirming it had closed the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska after discovering one of the pipelines was damaged. The news had the price of oil shooting back up again, with the US September contract up $1.64 to $76.40 a barrel, having climbed nearly $2 earlier in the session. Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group barely moved, caught between sympathy for BP and cheer over rising crude prices. Shell ended flat at 1,935p while BG declined 0.07% to 729.50p. BHP Billiton fell 2.62% to 1,003p as it faced a strike at Chile's Escondida copper mine in which it holds a...