BP credit rating cut as oil slick heads to Florida

Ratings company Fitch cut BP's status from AA+ to AA, saying that "risks to both BP's business and financial profile continue to increase following the Deepwater Horizon accident".

The cut means BP is viewed as a less reliable company for investors, and follows a fall in the oil giant's share price of over a third.

Ratings agency Moody's followed suit by downgrading BP by a notch and putting it on review.

As its financial woes grow, BP is facing the prospect of oil from the mass spill reaching the coast of Florida as early as Friday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says the massive slick is now about seven miles away from the region's tourist resorts and its arrival is "imminent".

Florida will be the fourth state hit by the BP disaster since its rig exploded in April, killing 11 workers, and spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

More than 125 miles of Louisiana's coast have already been contaminated, sparking fears about the region's already endangered wildlife.

BP has now promised to pay for the construction of six sand barriers to help keep oil from reaching fragile wetlands, supporting a US government proposal.

Meanwhile, heavier amounts of tar balls and other oil debris have washed up on Alabama's Dauphin Island and parts of Mississippi.

The US has extended fishing restrictions, with a third of the Gulf of Mexico now off limits.

In its latest bid to stem the flow, BP plans to cut away the leaking riser pipe from the ruptured wellhead 5,000ft below the surface, then lower a containment cap to funnel the escaping oil to the surface.

The risky plan is being attempted after the "top kill" method failed.

The diamond-tipped saw used to sever the pipe became stuck on Wednesday, but robot submarines have now managed to free it.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward has admitted his firm not been prepared for a deep-water leak.

"What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your tool-kit," he told the Financial Times.

He has also apologised for saying in an interview that he would "like my life back".

"I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment on Sunday when I said that 'I wanted my life back'," Hayward said in a post to BP America's Facebook page.

"When I read that recently, I was appalled. I apologise, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident."

US President Barack Obama has vowed to bring justice to those responsible for the spill, describing it as the "greatest environmental disaster of its kind in our history".