BP takes FTSE lower

BP has declined 9.5p, or 1.5%, to 626.5p after it said it is shutting the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska because of corrosion in a pipeline. Prudhoe Bay accounts for 8% of US production. BHP Billiton has fallen 14p, or 1.4%, to 1,016p and Rio Tinto has dropped 50p, or 1.8%, to 2,756p, as the mining companies face a strike at the world's largest copper mine in Escondida. Xstrata has lost 26p, or 1.2%, to 2,223p. The mining company's planned rights offer to help fund its takeover of Falconbridge could cost more than $100m in fees, according to a newspaper report. Bradford & Bingley has...