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BP 424B5 2008 Table of ContentsFiled Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5) Prospectus Supplement
March 12, 2008 (To prospectus dated December 19, 2006)
$1,000,000,000
BP Capital Markets p.l.c.
Floating Rate Guaranteed Notes due 2010
Payment of the principal of and interest on the notes is fully guaranteed by
BP p.l.c.
BP Capital Markets p.l.c. will pay interest on the notes on March 17, June 17, September 17 and December 17 of each year, subject to the day count convention. The first such payment will be made on June 17, 2008. The notes will bear interest at a floating rate equal to the three-month U.S. dollar LIBOR rate plus 0.21%. The notes will mature on March 17, 2010.
Payment of the principal of and interest on the notes is fully guaranteed by BP p.l.c.
Application will be made to list the notes on the New York Stock Exchange.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus supplement or the related prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Investment in these securities involves certain risks. See “ Risk Factors” beginning on page 2 of the accompanying prospectus.
The underwriters expect to deliver the notes to purchasers in book-entry form only through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company and its direct and indirect participants (including Euroclear S.A./N.V., as operator of the Euroclear System, and Clearstream Banking, société anoyme) on or about March 17, 2008.
Joint Book-Running Managers
Table of ContentsThe distribution of this prospectus supplement and prospectus and the offering of the notes in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. This prospectus supplement and prospectus do not constitute an offer, or an invitation on BP Capital Markets p.l.c.’s (“BP Capital U.K.”) or BP p.l.c.’s (“BP”) behalf or on behalf of the underwriters, to subscribe to or purchase any of the notes, and may not be used for or in connection with an offer or solicitation by anyone, in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation. See “Underwriting” below.
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Table of ContentsDESCRIPTION OF NOTES
This section outlines the specific financial and legal terms of the notes that are more generally described under “Description of Debt Securities and Guarantees” beginning on page 11 of the accompanying prospectus. If anything described in this section is inconsistent with the terms described under “Description of Debt Securities and Guarantees” in the accompanying prospectus, the terms described below shall prevail.
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BP Capital U.K.’s principal executive offices are located at Chertsey Road, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex TW16 7BP, England.
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Table of ContentsGENERAL INFORMATION
Documents Available
BP files annual reports and other reports and information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Any document BP files with the SEC may be read and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You may obtain more information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. BP’s filings are also available to the public at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.
The Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2007 of BP contains a summary description of BP’s business and audited consolidated financial statements with a report by our independent registered public accounting firm. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and IFRS as adopted by the European Union (EU). IFRS as adopted by the EU differs in certain respects from IFRS as issued by the IASB; however, the differences have no impact on the group’s consolidated financial statements for the years presented. In accordance with the requirements of Form 20-F, as amended by the SEC effective March 4, 2008, these financial statements have been prepared without a reconciliation to generally accepted accounting principles applicable in the United States.
The financial information of BP contained in this document does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985 (the “Companies Act”). Statutory accounts for the three financial years ended December 31, 2007 for BP have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies in England and Wales. BP’s auditors have made reports under Section 235 of the Companies Act on the last statutory accounts that were not qualified within the meaning of Section 262 of the Companies Act and did not contain a statement made under Section 237(2) or Section 238(3) of the Companies Act.
Notices
As long as the notes are issued in global form, notices to be given to holders of the notes will be given to DTC, in accordance with its applicable procedures from time to time.
Neither the failure to give any notice to a particular holder, nor any defect in a notice given to a particular holder, will affect the sufficiency of any notice given to another holder.
Clearance Systems
The notes have been accepted for clearance through the DTC, Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg systems. The notes have the following codes: CUSIP 05565Q BE7 and ISIN US05565QBE70.
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Table of ContentsRATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES (Unaudited)
Fixed charges for all computations consist of interest (including capitalized interest) on all indebtedness, amortization of debt discount and expense and that portion of rental expense representative of the interest factor.
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Table of ContentsCAPITALIZATION AND INDEBTEDNESS
Capitalization and Indebtedness of BP Capital U.K.
The following table shows the unaudited capitalization and indebtedness of BP Capital U.K. as of December 31, 2007:
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Table of ContentsCapitalization and Indebtedness of BP p.l.c.
The following table shows the unaudited consolidated capitalization and indebtedness of the BP Group as of December 31, 2007 in accordance with IFRS:
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Table of ContentsUNITED STATES TAXATION
This section describes the material United States federal income tax consequences of owning the notes we are offering. It applies to you only if you acquire notes in the offering at the offering price and you hold your notes as capital assets for tax purposes. This section does not apply to you if you are a member of a class of holders subject to special rules, such as:
If you purchase notes at a price other than the offering price, the amortizable bond premium or market discount rules may also apply to you. You should consult your tax advisor regarding this possibility.
If a partnership holds the notes, the United States federal income tax treatment of a partner will generally depend on the status of the partner and the tax treatment of the partnership. A partner in a partnership holding the notes should consult the partner’s tax advisor with regard to the United States federal income tax treatment of an investment in the notes.
This section is based on the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, its legislative history, existing and proposed regulations under the Internal Revenue Code, published rulings and court decisions, all as currently in effect. These laws are subject to change, possibly on a retroactive basis.
Please consult your own tax advisor concerning the consequences of owning these notes in your particular circumstances under the Internal Revenue Code and the laws of any other taxing jurisdiction.
United States Holders
This subsection describes the tax consequences to a United States holder. You are a United States holder if you are a beneficial owner of a note and you are:
If you are not a United States holder, this subsection does not apply to you and you should refer to “—United States Alien Holders” below.
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Table of ContentsPayments of Interest
You will be taxed on interest on your note as ordinary income at the time you receive the interest or when it accrues, depending on your method of accounting for tax purposes.
Purchase, Sale and Retirement of the Notes
Your tax basis in your note generally will be its cost. You will generally recognize capital gain or loss on the sale or retirement of your note equal to the difference between the amounts you realize on the sale or retirement, excluding any amounts attributable to accrued but unpaid interest, and your tax basis in your note. Capital gain of a noncorporate United States holder that is recognized in taxable years beginning before January 1, 2011 is generally taxed at a maximum rate of 15% where the holder has a holding period of greater than one year.
United States Alien Holders
If you are a United States alien holder (as defined in the accompanying prospectus), you generally will not be subject to United States federal income tax, including withholding tax with respect to payments on your notes. Please see the discussion under “Tax Considerations—United States Taxation—United States Alien Holders (BP Capital U.K. and BP Canada)” in the accompanying prospectus.
Backup Withholding and Information Reporting
Please see the discussion under “Tax Considerations—United States Taxation—Backup Withholding and Information Reporting (BP Capital U.K and BP Canada)” in the accompanying prospectus for a description of the applicability of the backup withholding and information reporting rules to payments made on your notes.
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Table of ContentsUNDERWRITING
Each underwriter named below has severally agreed, subject to the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement with BP Capital U.K. and BP, dated March 12, 2008, to purchase the principal amount of notes set forth below opposite its name. The underwriters are committed to purchase all of the notes if any notes are purchased.
The notes are a new issue of securities with no established trading market. Application will be made to list the notes on the New York Stock Exchange, although no assurance can be given that the notes will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and if so listed, the listing does not assure that a trading market for the notes will develop. BP Capital U.K. and BP have been advised by the underwriters that the underwriters intend to make a market in the notes but are not obligated to do so and may discontinue market making at any time without notice. No assurance can be given as to the liquidity of the trading market for the notes.
BP Capital U.K. and BP have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The underwriters propose to offer the notes initially at the offering price on the cover page of this prospectus supplement. The underwriters may sell notes to securities dealers at a discount from the initial public offering price of up to 0.025% of the principal amount of the notes. These securities dealers may resell any notes purchased from the underwriters to other brokers or dealers at a discount from the initial public offering price of up to 0.0125% of the principal amount of the notes. If the underwriters cannot sell all the notes at the initial offering price, they may change the offering price and the other selling terms.
From time to time the underwriters engage in transactions with BP or its subsidiaries in the ordinary course of business. The underwriters have performed investment banking, commercial banking and advisory services for BP in the past and have received customary fees and expenses for these services, and may do so again in the future.
In order to facilitate the offering of the notes, the underwriters may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or support the price of such notes, as the case may be, for a limited period after the issue date. Specifically, the underwriters may over-allot in connection with the offering, creating a short position in the notes for their own account. In addition, to cover over-allotments or to stabilize the price of the notes, the underwriters may bid for, and purchase, notes in the open market. Any of these activities may stabilize or maintain the market price of the notes above independent market levels. The underwriters are not required to engage in these activities, and may end any of these activities at any time.
In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a Relevant Member State), each underwriter has represented and agreed that with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that Relevant Member State (the Relevant Implementation Date), it has not made and will not make an offer of the notes which are the subject of the offering contemplated by the prospectus as supplemented by this prospectus supplement to the public in that Relevant Member State, except that it may, with effect from and including the Relevant Implementation Date, make an offer of the notes to the public in that Relevant Member State:
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provided that no such offer of notes referred to above shall require BP Capital Markets p.l.c. or any underwriter to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 16 of the Prospectus Directive.
For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of notes to the public” in relation to any notes in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the notes to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the notes, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Member State and the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC and includes any relevant implementing measure in each Relevant Member State.
Each underwriter has further represented and agreed that:
The notes may not be offered or sold by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap.571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32, Laws of Hong Kong), and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the notes may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to notes which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.
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Table of ContentsThis prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the notes may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the notes be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”), (ii) to a relevant person, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.
This document is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). The notes are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire the notes will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.
In any Relevant Member State this communication is only addressed to qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive or has been or will be made otherwise in circumstances that do not require BP Capital Markets p.l.c. to publish a prospectus pursuant to the Prospectus Directive.
This prospectus supplement has been prepared on the basis that any offer of notes in any Relevant Member State will be made pursuant to an exemption under the Prospectus Directive, as implemented in that Relevant Member State, from the requirement to publish a prospectus for offers of notes. Accordingly any person making or intending to make an offer in that Relevant Member State of notes that are the subject of the offering contemplated in the prospectus as supplemented by this prospectus supplement may only do so in circumstances in which no obligation arises for BP Capital Markets p.l.c. or any of the underwriters to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive in relation to such offer. Neither BP Capital Markets p.l.c. nor any of the underwriters have authorized, nor do they authorize, the making of any offer of notes in circumstances in which an obligation arises for BP Capital Markets p.l.c. or any of the underwriters to publish a prospectus for such offer.
Each person in a Relevant Member State who receives any communication in respect of, or who acquires any notes under, the offers contemplated in this prospectus supplement and the prospectus will be deemed to have represented, warranted and agreed to and with each underwriter and BP Capital Markets p.l.c. that:
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$10,000,000,000
BP CAPITAL MARKETS AMERICA INC.
BP CAPITAL MARKETS P.L.C.
BP CANADA FINANCE COMPANY
GUARANTEED DEBT SECURITIES
Fully and unconditionally guaranteed by
BP p.l.c.
BP Capital Markets America Inc., BP Capital Markets p.l.c. and BP Canada Finance Company may use this prospectus to offer from time to time guaranteed debt securities.
We urge you to read this prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement carefully before you invest. We may sell these securities to or through underwriters, and also to other purchasers or through agents. The names of the underwriters will be set forth in the accompanying prospectus supplement.
Investing in these securities involves certain risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 2.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities, or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Prospectus dated December 19, 2006
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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS
This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, utilizing a shelf registration process. Under this shelf process, we may sell the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings up to a total dollar amount of $10,000,000,000. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we sell securities, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of those securities and their offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. We urge you to read both this prospectus and any prospectus supplement together with the additional information described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information About Us”.
In this prospectus, the terms “we,” “our” and “us” refer to BP p.l.c., BP Capital Markets America Inc., BP Capital Markets p.l.c. and BP Canada Finance Company; “BP” refers to BP p.l.c.; the “BP Group” refers to BP and its subsidiaries; and “BP Debt Issuers” refers to BP Capital Markets America Inc., BP Capital Markets p.l.c. and BP Canada Finance Company, collectively, each a “BP Debt Issuer”. Each of the BP Debt Issuers may be the issuer in an offering of debt securities guaranteed by BP.
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RISK FACTORS
Investing in the securities offered using this prospectus involves risk. We urge you to carefully review the risks described below, together with the risks described in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus and any risk factors included in the prospectus supplement, before you decide to buy our securities. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could suffer, and the trading price and liquidity of the securities offered using this prospectus could decline, in which case you may lose all or part of your investment.
BP Group-level risks have been identified and classified in three categories: delivery, inherent and enduring.
Delivery risks
Delivery risks are those specific to implementing activities contained in our group plan. Successful execution of this plan depends critically on implementing the set of activities described. Hence, our delivery risks are those factors that would result in our failure to deliver these activities economically.
The most significant risks include:
Upstream renewal: Inability to renew the portfolio and sustain long-term reserves replacement. The challenge is growing due to increasing competition for access to opportunities globally.
Major project delivery: Poor delivery of any major project that underpins production growth and/or a major programme designed to enhance shareholder value.
Portfolio repositioning: Inability to complete planned disposals and/or lack of material positions in new markets (and hence the inability to capture above-average market growth).
Inherent risks
There are a number of risks that arise as a result of the business climate, which are not directly controllable.
Competition risk: The oil, gas and petrochemicals industries are highly competitive. There is strong competition, both within the oil and gas industry and with other industries, in supplying the fuel needs of commerce, industry and the home. Competition puts pressure on product prices, affects oil products marketing and requires continuous management focus on reducing unit costs and improving efficiency.
Price risk: Oil, gas and product prices are subject to international supply and demand. Political developments (especially in the Middle East) and the outcome of meetings of OPEC can particularly affect world supply and oil prices. In addition to the adverse effect on revenues, margins and profitability from any future fall in oil and natural gas prices, a prolonged period of low prices or other indicators would lead to a review for impairment of the BP Group’s oil and natural gas properties. This review would reflect management’s view of long-term oil and natural gas prices. Such a review could result in a charge for impairment that could have a significant effect on the BP Group’s results of operations in the period in which it occurs.
Regulatory risk: The oil industry is subject to regulation and intervention by governments throughout the world in such matters as the award of exploration and production interests, the imposition of specific drilling obligations, environmental protection controls, controls over the development and decommissioning of a field (including restrictions on production) and, possibly, nationalization, expropriation, cancellation or non-renewal of contract rights. The oil industry is also subject to the payment of royalties and taxation, which tend to be high compared with those payable in respect of other commercial activities, and operates in certain tax jurisdictions that have a degree of uncertainty relating to the interpretation of, and changes to, tax law. As a result of new laws and regulations or other factors, we could be required to curtail or cease certain operations, causing our production to decrease, or we could incur additional costs.
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Table of ContentsDeveloping country risk: We have operations in developing countries where political, economic and social transition is taking place. Some countries have experienced political instability, expropriation or nationalization of property, civil strife, strikes, acts of war and insurrections. Any of these conditions occurring could disrupt or terminate our operations, causing our development activities to be curtailed or terminated in these areas or our production to decline and could cause us to incur additional costs.
Currency risk: Crude oil prices are generally set in US dollars, while sales of refined products may be in a variety of currencies. Fluctuations in exchange rates can therefore give rise to foreign exchange exposures, with a consequent impact on underlying costs.
Economic risk–refining and petrochemicals market: Refining profitability can be volatile, with both periodic oversupply and supply tightness in various regional markets. Sectors of the chemicals industry are also subject to fluctuations in supply and demand within the petrochemicals market, with consequent effect on prices and profitability.
Enduring risks
We set ourselves high standards of corporate citizenship and aspire to contribute to a better quality of life through the products and services we provide. This may create risks to our reputation if it is perceived that our actions are not aligned to these standards and aspirations.
Social responsibility risk: Risk could arise if it is perceived that we are not respecting or advancing the economic and social progress of the communities in which we operate.
Environmental risk: We seek to conduct our activities in such a manner that there is no or minimal damage to the environment. Risk could arise if we do not apply our resources to overcome the perceived trade-off between global access to energy and the protection or improvement of the natural environment.
Compliance risk: Incidents of non-compliance with applicable laws and regulation or ethical misconduct could be damaging to our reputation and shareholder value. Inherent in our operations are hazards that require continual oversight and control.
If operational risks materialized, loss of life, damage to the environment or loss of production could result.
Drilling and production risk: Exploration and production require high levels of investment, have particular economic risks and opportunities and may often involve innovative technologies. They are subject to natural hazards and other uncertainties, including those relating to the physical characteristics of an oil or natural gas field. The cost of drilling, completing or operating wells is often uncertain. We may be required to curtail, delay or cancel drilling operations because of a variety of factors, including unexpected drilling conditions, pressure or irregularities in geological formations, equipment failures or accidents, adverse weather conditions and compliance with governmental requirements.
Technical integrity risk: There is a risk of loss of containment of hydrocarbons and other hazardous material at operating sites, pipelines or during transportation by road, rail or sea.
Security risk: Acts of terrorism that threaten our plants and offices, pipelines, transportation or computer systems would severely disrupt business and operations.
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Table of ContentsFORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
In order to utilize the ‘Safe Harbor’ provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, BP is providing the following cautionary statement. This prospectus, including documents incorporated by reference, and the related prospectus supplement may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of BP and certain of the plans, objectives, assumptions, projections, expectations, intentions or beliefs of BP with respect to these items. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as ‘anticipates’, ‘should’, ‘expects’, ‘estimates’, ‘believes’, ‘is expected to’, ‘may’, ‘is likely to’, ‘intends’, ‘plans’, ‘we see’, or similar expressions. In particular, forward-looking statements include:
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will or may occur in the future and are outside the control of BP. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including:
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Table of ContentsWHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT US
BP files annual reports and other reports and information with the SEC. You may read and copy any document BP files at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. In addition, BP’s SEC filings are available to the public at the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov. For further information, call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 or log on to http://www.sec.gov.
BP’s American Depositary Shares are listed on the New York, Chicago, NYSE Arca and Toronto stock exchanges. BP’s ordinary shares are admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange plc and listed in France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. You can consult reports and other information about BP that it filed pursuant to the rules of the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange at these exchanges.
The SEC allows BP to “incorporate by reference” into this prospectus the information in documents filed with the SEC. This means that BP can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. Each document incorporated by reference is current only as of the date of such document, and the incorporation by reference of such documents shall not create any implication that there has been no change in our affairs since the date thereof or that the information contained therein is current as of any time subsequent to its date. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be a part of this prospectus; accordingly, we urge you to read it with the same care. When BP updates the information contained in documents that have been incorporated by reference by making future filings with the SEC, the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus is considered to be automatically updated and superseded. In other words, in the case of a conflict or inconsistency between information contained in this prospectus and information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, you should rely on the information contained in the document that was filed later.
BP incorporates by reference into this prospectus the documents listed below and any documents BP files with the SEC in the future under Section 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), including any future annual reports on Form 20-F, until the offerings made under this prospectus are completed:
The Annual Report on Form 20-F/A for the year ended December 31, 2005 of BP contains a summary description of BP’s business and audited consolidated financial statements with a report by our independent registered public accounting firm. These financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (EU). We refer to these accounting principles as IFRS in this prospectus. The consolidated financial statements for the periods presented would be no different had BP applied IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. References to IFRS hereafter should be construed to IFRS as adopted by the EU. The Annual Report on Form 20-F/A for the year ended December 31, 2005 of BP presents the effects of the differences on our consolidated financial statements between IFRS and generally accepted accounting principles applicable in the United States. We refer to the latter accounting principles as US GAAP in this prospectus.
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Table of ContentsYou may request a copy of these filings, other than an exhibit to a filing unless that exhibit is specifically incorporated by reference into that filing, at no cost, by writing to or telephoning BP at the following address:
BP p.l.c. 1 St. James’s Square London SW1Y 4PD, England (011) 44-20-7496-4000
You should rely only on the information that we incorporate by reference or provide in this prospectus or the prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information. We are not making an offer of these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus or the prospectus supplement is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of those documents.
BP p.l.c.
The British Petroleum Company p.l.c., incorporated in 1909 in England and Wales, was merged on December 31, 1998 with Amoco Corporation, which was incorporated in Indiana, U.S.A, in 1889. The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. was renamed BP Amoco p.l.c. following this merger. On April 14, 2000, BP acquired the Atlantic Richfield Company and on July 7, 2000, BP completed its successful tender offer for Burmah Castrol plc of England. On May 1, 2001 the name of the company was changed to BP p.l.c. BP p.l.c. is a public limited company, incorporated under the Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908 with registered number 00102498.
BP’s principal executive offices are located on 1 St. James’s Square, London SW1Y 4PD, England. BP’s telephone number is (011) 44-20-7496-4000.
DESCRIPTION OF BP DEBT ISSUERS
Financial Statements and Issuer Identity
We do not present separate financial statements of the BP Debt Issuers in this prospectus because management has determined that they would not be material to investors. BP will fully and unconditionally guarantee the guaranteed debt securities issued by the BP Debt Issuers as to payment of principal, premium, if any, interest and any other amounts due.
BP will determine the identity of an issuer relating to a particular series of debt securities in light of considerations related to the funding needs of BP and its consolidated subsidiaries. These include:
BP Capital Markets America Inc.
BP Capital Markets America Inc. (“BP Capital America”) is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of BP and was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on February 15, 2002. BP Capital America is a financing vehicle for the BP Group and issues debt securities on behalf of the BP Group. BP Capital America will lend substantially all proceeds of its borrowings to the BP Group.
BP Capital Markets p.l.c.
BP Capital Markets p.l.c. (“BP Capital U.K.”) is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of BP and was incorporated under the laws of England and Wales on December 14, 1976. BP Capital U.K. is a financing vehicle
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BP Canada Finance Company
BP Canada Finance Company (“BP Canada”) is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of BP and was incorporated under the laws of Nova Scotia on February 18, 2002. BP Canada is a financing vehicle for the BP Group and issues debt securities on behalf of the BP Group. BP Canada will lend substantially all proceeds of its borrowings to the BP Group.
RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES (Unaudited)
Fixed charges for all computations consist of interest (including capitalized interest) on all indebtedness, amortization of debt discount and expense and that portion of rental expense representative of the interest factor.
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Table of ContentsCAPITALIZATION AND INDEBTEDNESS OF BP p.l.c.
The following table shows the unaudited consolidated capitalization and indebtedness of the BP Group as of September 30, 2006 in accordance with IFRS:
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Table of ContentsUSE OF PROCEEDS
Unless otherwise indicated in an accompanying prospectus supplement, the net proceeds from the sale of securities will be used for general corporate purposes. These include working capital for BP or other companies in the BP Group and the repayment of existing borrowings of BP and its subsidiaries.
Street Name and Other Indirect Holders
We generally will not recognize investors who hold securities in accounts at banks or brokers that are the legal holders of securities. When we refer to the holders of securities, we mean only the actual legal and (if applicable) record holder of those securities. Holding securities in accounts at banks or brokers is called holding in street name. If you hold securities in street name, we will recognize only the bank or broker or the financial institution the bank or broker uses to hold its securities. These intermediary banks, brokers and other financial institutions pass along principal, interest and other payments on the securities, either because they agree to do so in their customer agreements or because they are legally required. If you hold securities in street name, we urge you to check with your own institution to find out:
Direct Holders
Our obligations, as well as the obligations of the trustee and those of any third parties employed by us or the trustee, under the securities run only to persons who are registered as holders of securities. As noted above, we do not have obligations to you if you hold in street name or other indirect means, either because you choose to hold securities in that manner or because the securities are issued in the form of global securities as described below. For example, once we make payment to the registered holder, we have no further responsibility for the payment even if that holder is legally required to pass the payment along to you as a street name customer but does not do so.
Global Securities
What is a Global Security?
A global security is a special type of indirectly held security, as described above on this page under “—Street Name and Other Indirect Holders”. If we choose to issue securities in the form of global securities, the ultimate beneficial owners can only be indirect holders.
We require that the securities included in the global security not be transferred to the name of any other direct holder unless the special circumstances described below occur. The financial institution that acts as the sole direct holder of the global security is called the depositary. Any person wishing to own a security must do so indirectly by virtue of an account with a broker, bank or other financial institution that in turn has an account with the depositary. The prospectus supplement relating to an offering of a series of securities will indicate whether the series will be issued only in the form of global securities.
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Table of ContentsSpecial Investor Considerations for Global Securities
As an indirect holder, an investor’s rights relating to a global security will be governed by the account rules of the investor’s financial institution and of the depositary, as well as general laws relating to securities transfers. We do not recognize this type of investor as a holder of securities and instead deal only with the depositary that holds the global security.
If you are an investor in securities that are issued only in the form of global securities, you should be aware that:
Special Situations When the Global Security Will Be Terminated
In a few special situations described below, the global security will terminate and interests in it will be exchanged for physical certificates representing securities. After that exchange, the choice of whether to hold securities directly or in street name will be up to the investor. Investors must consult their own bank or brokers to find out how to have their interests in securities transferred to their own name so that they will be direct holders. The rights of street name investors and direct holders in the securities have been previously described on page 9 under “—Street Name and Other Indirect Holders” and “—Direct Holders”.
The special situations for termination of a global security are:
The prospectus supplement may also list additional situations for terminating a global security that would apply only to the particular series of securities covered by the prospectus supplement. When a global security terminates, the depositary, and not we or the trustee, is responsible for deciding the names of the institutions that will be the initial direct holders.
In the remainder of this description “you” means direct holders and not street name or other indirect holders of securities. We urge indirect holders to read the subsection on page 9 entitled “—Street Name and Other Indirect Holders”.
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Table of ContentsDESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES AND GUARANTEES
Each of the BP Debt Issuers may issue guaranteed debt securities using this prospectus. As required by U.S. federal law for all bonds and notes of companies that are publicly offered, the debt securities are governed by a document called the indenture. Each of the BP Debt Issuers has entered or will enter into an indenture with The Bank of New York Trust Company, N.A.
The trustee under each of the indentures has two main roles:
BP acts as the guarantor of the guaranteed debt securities issued under the BP Debt Issuers’ indentures. The guarantees are described under “—Guarantees” on page 12 below.
The indentures and their associated documents contain the full legal text governing the matters described in this section. The indentures, the debt securities and the guarantees are governed by New York law. The indentures are exhibits to our registration statement. See “Where You Can Find More Information About Us” on pages 5-6 for information on how to obtain a copy.
This section contains what we believe is a materially complete and accurate summary of the material provisions of the indentures, which are substantially identical to each other, the debt securities and the guarantees. However, because it is a summary, it does not describe every aspect of the indentures, the debt securities or the guarantees. This summary is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to all the provisions of the indentures, including some of the terms used in the indentures. We describe the meaning for only the more important terms. We also include references in parentheses to some sections of the indentures. Whenever we refer to particular sections or defined terms of the indentures in this prospectus or in the prospectus supplement, those sections or defined terms are incorporated by reference here or in the prospectus supplement. This summary also is subject to and qualified by reference to the description of the particular terms of your series described in the prospectus supplement.
The BP Debt Issuers may each issue as many distinct series of debt securities under its respective indenture as it wishes. This section summarizes all material terms of the debt securities that are common to all series, unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus supplement relating to a particular series.
We may issue the debt securities as original issue discount securities, which are debt securities that are offered and sold at a substantial discount to their stated principal amount. (Section 101) Special U.S. federal income tax, accounting and other considerations may apply to original issue discount securities. These considerations will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to any original issue discount securities that may be issued. The debt securities may also be issued as indexed securities or securities denominated in foreign currencies or currency units, as described in more detail in the prospectus supplement relating to any such debt securities.
In addition, the specific financial, legal and other terms particular to a series of debt securities are described in the prospectus supplement and the pricing agreement relating to the series. Those terms may vary from the terms described here. Accordingly, this summary also is subject to and qualified by reference to the description of the terms of the series described in the prospectus supplement.
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Table of ContentsThe prospectus supplement relating to a series of debt securities will describe the following terms of the series:
Unless otherwise stated in the prospectus supplement, the debt securities will be issued only in fully registered form without interest coupons.
Guarantees
BP will fully and unconditionally guarantee the payment of the principal of, premium, if any, and interest on the guaranteed debt securities, including certain additional amounts which may be payable under the guarantees, as described on pages 17-18 under “—Payment of Additional Amounts”. BP guarantees the payment of such amounts when such amounts become due and payable, whether at the stated maturity of the debt securities, by declaration or acceleration, call for redemption or otherwise.
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Table of ContentsOverview of Remainder of This Description
The remainder of this description summarizes:
Additional Mechanics
Exchange and Transfer
You may have your debt securities broken into more debt securities of smaller denominations or combined into fewer debt securities of larger denominations, as long as the total principal amount is not changed. (Section 305) This is called an exchange.
You may exchange or transfer registered debt securities at the office of the trustee. The trustee acts as our agent for registering debt securities in the names of holders and transferring registered debt securities. We may change this appointment to another entity or perform the service ourselves. The entity performing the role of maintaining the list of registered holders is called the security registrar. It will also register transfers of the registered debt securities. (Section 305)
You will not be required to pay a service charge to transfer or exchange debt securities, but you may be required to pay for any tax or other governmental charge associated with the exchange or transfer. The transfer or exchange of a registered debt security will only be made if the security registrar is satisfied with your proof of ownership.
If we have designated additional transfer agents, they are named in the prospectus supplement. We may cancel the designation of any particular transfer agent. We may also approve a change in the office through which any transfer agent acts. (Section 1002)
If the debt securities are redeemable and we redeem less than all of the debt securities of a particular series, we may block the transfer or exchange of debt securities during a specified period of time in order to freeze the list of holders to prepare the mailing. The period begins 15 days before the day we mail the notice of redemption and ends on the day of that mailing. We may also refuse to register transfers or exchanges of debt securities selected for redemption. However, we will continue to permit transfers and exchanges of the unredeemed portion of any security being partially redeemed. (Section 305)
Payment and Paying Agents
We will pay interest to you if you are a direct holder listed in the trustee’s records at the close of business on a particular day in advance of each due date for interest, even if you no longer own the security on the interest due date. That particular day, usually about two weeks in advance of the interest due date, is called the regular record date and is stated in the prospectus supplement. (Section 307)
We will pay interest, principal and any other money due on the registered debt securities at the corporate trust office of the trustee in Chicago, Illinois. That office is currently located at The Bank of New York Trust
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Table of ContentsCompany, N.A., 227 W. Monroe, 26th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60606. You must make arrangements to have your payments picked up at or wired from that office. We may also choose to pay interest by mailing checks. Interest on global securities will be paid to the holder thereof by wire transfer of same-day funds.
Holders buying and selling debt securities must work out between them how to compensate for the fact that we will pay all the interest for an interest period to the one who is the registered holder on the regular record date. The most common manner is to adjust the sales price of the debt securities to pro rate interest fairly between buyer and seller. This pro rated interest amount is called accrued interest.
We urge street name and other indirect holders to consult their banks or brokers for information on how they will receive payments.
We may also arrange for additional payment offices, and may cancel or change these offices, including our use of the trustee’s corporate trust office. These offices are called paying agents. We may also choose to act as our own paying agent. We must notify you through the trustee of changes in the paying agents for any particular series of debt securities. (Section 1002)
Notices
We and the trustee will send notices only to direct holders, using their addresses as listed in the trustee’s records. (Section 106)
Regardless of who acts as paying agent, all money that we pay to a paying agent that remains unclaimed at the end of two years after the amount is due to direct holders will be repaid to us. After that two-year period, you may look only to us for payment and not to the trustee, any other paying agent or anyone else. (Section 1006)
Special Situations
Mergers and Similar Events
We are generally permitted to consolidate or merge with another company or firm. We are also permitted to sell or lease substantially all of our assets to another corporation or other entity or to buy or lease substantially all of the assets of another corporation or other entity. No vote by holders of debt securities approving any of these actions is required, unless as part of the transaction we make changes to the indenture requiring your approval, as described below on pages 15-16 under “—Modification and Waiver”. We may take these actions as part of a transaction involving outside third parties or as part of an internal corporate reorganization. We may take these actions even if they result in:
We have no obligation under the indenture to seek to avoid these results, or any other legal or financial effects that are disadvantageous to you, in connection with a merger, consolidation or sale or lease of assets that is permitted under the indenture. However, we may not take any of these actions unless all the following conditions are met:
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It is possible that the merger, sale or lease of assets or other transaction would cause some of our property to become subject to a mortgage, security interest, lien or other legal mechanism giving lenders preferential rights in that property over other lenders or over our general creditors if we fail to pay them back.
It is possible that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service may deem a merger or other similar transaction to cause an exchange for U.S. federal income tax purposes of debt securities for new securities by the holders of the debt securities. This could result in the recognition of taxable gain or loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes and possible other adverse tax consequences.
Modification and Waiver
There are three types of changes we can make to the indentures and the debt securities.
Changes Requiring Your Approval
First, there are changes that cannot be made to your debt securities without your specific approval. We must obtain your specified approval in order to:
Changes Requiring a Majority Vote
The second type of change to the indentures and the debt securities is the kind that requires a vote in favor by holders of debt securities owning a majority of the principal amount of the particular series affected. Most changes fall into this category, except for clarifying changes and other changes that would not adversely affect holders of the debt securities in any material respect. The same vote would be required for us to obtain a waiver of all or part of the covenants described in this summary or a waiver of a past default. However, we cannot obtain a waiver of a payment default or any other aspect of the indentures or the debt securities listed in the first category described above under “Changes Requiring Your Approval” unless we obtain your individual consent to the waiver. (Section 513)
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Table of ContentsChanges Not Requiring Approval
The third type of change does not require any vote by holders of debt securities. This type is limited to clarifications and other changes that would not adversely affect holders of the debt securities in any material respect. (Section 901)
Further Details Concerning Voting
When taking a vote, we will use the following rules to decide how much principal amount to attribute to a security:
We urge street name and other indirect holders to consult their banks or brokers for information on how approval may be granted or denied if we seek to change the indenture or the debt securities or request a waiver.
Redemption and Repayment
Unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus supplement, your debt security will not be entitled to the benefit of any sinking fund—that is, we will not deposit money on a regular basis into any separate custodial account to repay your debt securities. In addition, we will not be entitled to redeem your debt security before its stated maturity unless the prospectus supplement specifies a redemption commencement date. You will not be entitled to require us to buy your debt security from you, before its stated maturity, unless the related prospectus supplement specifies one or more repayment dates.
If the prospectus supplement specifies a redemption commencement date or a repayment date, it will also specify one or more redemption prices or repayment prices, which may be expressed as a percentage of the principal amount of your debt security or by reference to one or more formulae used to determine the redemption price(s). It may also specify one or more redemption periods during which the redemption prices relating to a redemption of debt securities during those periods will apply.
If the prospectus supplement specifies a redemption commencement date, we may redeem your debt security at our option at any time on or after that date. If we redeem your debt security, we will do so at the
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Table of Contentsspecified redemption price, together with interest accrued to the redemption date. If different prices are specified for different redemption periods, the price we pay will be the price that applies to the redemption period during which your debt security is redeemed.
If the prospectus supplement specifies a repayment date, your debt security will be repayable by us at your option on the specified repayment date(s) at the specified repayment price(s), together with interest accrued to the repayment date.
In the event that we exercise an option to redeem any debt security, we will give written notice of the principal amount of the debt security to be redeemed to the trustee at least 45 days before the applicable redemption date and to the holder not less than 30 days nor more than 60 days before the applicable redemption date. We will give the notice in the manner described above on page 14 under “Additional Mechanics—Notices”.
If a debt security represented by a global security is subject to repayment at the holder’s option, the depositary or its nominee, as the holder, will be the only person that can exercise the right to repayment. Any indirect holders who own beneficial interests in the global security and wish to exercise a repayment right must give proper and timely instructions to their banks or brokers through which they hold their interests, requesting that they notify the depositary to exercise the repayment right on their behalf. Different firms have different deadlines for accepting instructions from their customers; we urge you to take care to act promptly enough to ensure that your request is given effect by the depositary before the applicable deadline for exercise.
We urge street name and other indirect holders to contact their banks or brokers for information about how to exercise a repayment right in a timely manner.
We or our affiliates may purchase debt securities from investors who are willing to sell from time to time, either in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices. Debt securities that we or they purchase may, in our discretion, be held, resold or canceled.
Payment of Additional Amounts
The government of any jurisdiction where BP or BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada is incorporated may require BP, BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada to withhold or deduct amounts from payments on the principal or interest on a debt security or any amounts to be paid under the guarantees for or on account of taxes or any other governmental charges. If the jurisdiction requires a withholding or deduction of this type, BP, BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada, as the case may be, may be required to pay you an additional amount so that the net amount you receive will be the amount specified in the debt security to which you are entitled. However, in order for you to be entitled to receive the additional amount, you must not be resident in the jurisdiction that requires the withholding or deduction.
BP, BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada, as the case may be, will not have to pay additional amounts under any of the following circumstances:
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that the statutes, treaties, regulations or administrative practices of the taxing jurisdiction require as a precondition to exemption from all or part of such tax or governmental charge.
In addition, BP Canada will not have to pay additional amounts under either of the following circumstances:
These provisions will also apply to any taxes or governmental charges imposed by any jurisdiction in which a successor to BP is organized. The prospectus supplement relating to the debt securities may describe additional circumstances in which BP would not be required to pay additional amounts. (Section 1010)
Optional Tax Redemption
We may also have the option to redeem the debt securities of a given series if, as a result of any change in United Kingdom or Canadian tax treatment, BP, BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada would be required to pay additional amounts as described in the previous subsection under “—Payment of Additional Amounts”. This option applies only in the case of changes in United Kingdom or Canadian tax treatment that occur on or after the date specified in the prospectus supplement for the applicable series of debt securities. The redemption price for the debt securities, other than original issue discount debt securities, will be equal to the principal amount of the debt securities being redeemed plus accrued interest. The redemption price for original issue discount debt securities will be specified in the prospectus supplement for such securities. (Section 1108)
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Table of ContentsEvent Risk Provisions
The debt securities do not contain event risk provisions designed to require BP or the BP Debt Issuers to redeem the debt securities, reset the interest rate or take other actions in response to highly leveraged transactions, changes in credit ratings or similar occurrences.
Defeasance and Discharge
The following discussion of full defeasance and discharge will be applicable to your series of debt securities only if we choose to have them apply to that series. If we do so choose, we will state that in the prospectus supplement. (Section 403)
We can legally release ourselves from any payment or other obligations on the debt securities, except for various obligations described below, if we, in addition to other actions, put in place the following arrangements for you to be repaid:
However, even if we take these actions, a number of our obligations relating to the debt securities will remain. These include the following obligations:
Default and Related Matters
Ranking
The debt securities are not secured by any of our property or assets. Accordingly, your ownership of debt securities means you are one of our unsecured creditors. The debt securities are not subordinated to any of our other debt obligations and therefore they rank equally with all our other unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness.
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Table of ContentsEvents of Default
You will have special rights if an event of default occurs and is not cured, as described later in this subsection.
What Is an Event of Default? The term “event of default” means, with respect to a debt security, any of the following:
Remedies If an Event of Default Occurs. If an event of default has occurred and has not been cured, the trustee or the holders of 25% in principal amount of the debt securities of the affected series may declare the entire principal amount of all the debt securities of that series to be due and immediately payable. This is called a declaration of acceleration of maturity. A declaration of acceleration of maturity may be canceled by the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the debt securities of the affected series if:
Except in cases of default, where the trustee has some special duties, the trustee is not required to take any action under the indenture at the request of any holders unless the holders offer the trustee reasonable protection from expenses and liability. This protection is called an indemnity. (Section 603) If reasonable indemnity is provided, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of the relevant series may direct the time, method and place of conducting any lawsuit or other formal legal action seeking any remedy available to the trustee. These majority holders may also direct the trustee in performing any other action under the indenture. (Section 512)
Before you bypass the trustee and bring your own lawsuit or other formal legal action or take other steps to enforce your rights or protect your interests relating to the debt securities, the following must occur:
We urge street name and other indirect holders to consult their banks or brokers for information on how to give notice or direction to or make a request of the trustee and to make or cancel a declaration of acceleration.
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Table of ContentsWe will furnish to the trustee every year a written statement of certain of our officers certifying that, to their knowledge, we are in compliance with the indenture and the debt securities, or else specifying any default. (Section 1008)
Regarding the Trustee
BP and several of its subsidiaries maintain banking relations with the trustee group of companies in the ordinary course of their business.
If an event of default occurs, or an event occurs that would be an event of default if the requirements for giving us default notice or our default having to exist for a specific period of time were disregarded, the trustee may be considered to have a conflicting interest with respect to the debt securities or the applicable indenture for purposes of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939. In that case, the trustee may be required to resign as trustee under the applicable indenture and we would be required to appoint a successor trustee.
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Table of ContentsCLEARANCE AND SETTLEMENT
Securities we issue may be held through one or more international and domestic clearing systems. The principal clearing systems we will use are the book-entry systems operated by The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) in the United States, Clearstream Banking, société anonyme, in Luxembourg (“Clearstream, Luxembourg”) and Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V. in Brussels, Belgium (“Euroclear”). These systems have established electronic securities and payment transfer, processing, depositary and custodial links among themselves and others, either directly or through custodians and depositaries. These links allow securities to be issued, held and transferred among the clearing systems without the physical transfer of certificates.
Special procedures to facilitate clearance and settlement have been established among these clearing systems to trade securities across borders in the secondary market. Where payments for securities we issue in global form will be made in U.S. dollars, these procedures can be used for cross-market transfers and the securities will be cleared and settled on a delivery against payment basis.
Cross-market transfers of securities that are not in global form may be cleared and settled in accordance with other procedures that may be established among the clearing systems for these securities. Investors in securities that are issued outside of the United States, its territories and possessions must initially hold their interests through Euroclear, Clearstream, Luxembourg or the clearance system that is described in the applicable prospectus supplement.
The policies of DTC, Clearstream, Luxembourg and Euroclear will govern payments, transfers, exchange and other matters relating to the investor’s interest in securities held by them. This is also true for any other clearance system that may be named in a prospectus supplement.
We have no responsibility for any aspect of the actions of DTC, Clearstream, Luxembourg or Euroclear or any of their direct or indirect participants. We have no responsibility for any aspect of the records kept by DTC, Clearstream, Luxembourg or Euroclear or any of their direct or indirect participants. We also do not supervise these systems in any way. This is also true for any other clearing system indicated in a prospectus supplement.
DTC, Clearstream, Luxembourg and Euroclear and their participants perform these clearance and settlement functions under agreements they have made with one another or with their customers. You should be aware that they are not obligated to perform these procedures and may modify them or discontinue them at any time.
The description of the clearing systems in this section reflects our understanding of the rules and procedures of DTC, Clearstream, Luxembourg and Euroclear as they are currently in effect. Those systems could change their rules and procedures at any time.
The Clearing Systems
DTC
DTC has advised us as follows:
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Clearstream, Luxembourg
Clearstream, Luxembourg has advised us as follows:
Euroclear
Euroclear has advised us as follows:
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Other Clearing Systems
We may choose any other clearing system for a particular series of securities. The clearance and settlement procedures for the clearing system we choose will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement.
Primary Distribution
The distribution of the securities will be cleared through one or more of the clearing systems that we have described above or any other clearing system that is specified in the applicable prospectus supplement. Payment for securities will be made on a delivery versus payment or free delivery basis. These payment procedures will be more fully described in the applicable prospectus supplement.
Clearance and settlement procedures may vary from one series of securities to another according to the currency that is chosen for the specific series of securities. Customary clearance and settlement procedures are described below.
We will submit applications to the relevant system or systems for the securities to be accepted for clearance. The clearance numbers that are applicable to each clearance system will be specified in the prospectus supplement.
Clearance and Settlement Procedures—DTC
DTC participants that hold securities through DTC on behalf of investors will follow the settlement practices applicable to United States corporate debt obligations in DTC’s Same-Day Funds Settlement System, or such other procedures as are applicable for other securities.
Securities will be credited to the securities custody accounts of these DTC participants against payment in same-day funds, for payments in U.S. dollars, on the settlement date. For payments in a currency other than U.S. dollars, securities will be credited free of payment on the settlement date.
Clearance and Settlement Procedures—Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg
We understand that investors that hold their securities through Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg accounts will follow the settlement procedures that are applicable to conventional Eurobonds in registered form for debt securities, or such other procedures as are applicable for other securities.
Securities will be credited to the securities custody accounts of Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg participants on the business day following the settlement date, for value on the settlement date. They will be credited either free of payment or against payment for value on the settlement date.
Secondary Market Trading
Trading between DTC Participants
Secondary market trading between DTC participants will occur in the ordinary way in accordance with DTC’s rules. Secondary market trading will be settled using procedures applicable to United States corporate debt obligations in DTC’s Same-Day Funds Settlement System for debt securities, or such other procedures as are applicable for other securities.
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Table of ContentsIf payment is made in U.S. dollars, settlement will be in same-day funds. If payment is made in a currency other than U.S. dollars, settlement will be free of payment. If payment is made other than in U.S. dollars, separate payment arrangements outside of the DTC system must be made between the DTC participants involved.
Trading between Euroclear and/or Clearstream, Luxembourg Participants
We understand that secondary market trading between Euroclear and/or Clearstream, Luxembourg participants will occur in the ordinary way following the applicable rules and operating procedures of Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg. Secondary market trading will be settled using procedures applicable to conventional Eurobonds in registered form for debt securities, or such other procedures as are applicable for other securities.
Trading between a DTC Seller and a Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg Purchaser
A purchaser of securities that are held in the account of a DTC participant must send instructions to Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg at least one business day prior to settlement. The instructions will provide for the transfer of the securities from the selling DTC participant’s account to the account of the purchasing Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg participant. Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg, as the case may be, will then instruct the common depositary for Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg to receive the securities either against payment or free of payment.
The interests in the securities will be credited to the respective clearing system. The clearing system will then credit the account of the participant, following its usual procedures. Credit for the securities will appear on the next day, European time. Cash debit will be back-valued to, and the interest on the securities will accrue from, the value date, which would be the preceding day, when settlement occurs in New York. If the trade fails and settlement is not completed on the intended date, the Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg cash debit will be valued as of the actual settlement date instead.
Euroclear participants or Clearstream, Luxembourg participants will need the funds necessary to process same-day funds settlement. The most direct means of doing this is to preposition funds for settlement, either from cash or from existing lines of credit, as for any settlement occurring within Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg. Under this approach, participants may take on credit exposure to Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg until the securities are credited to their accounts one business day later.
As an alternative, if Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg has extended a line of credit to them, participants can choose not to preposition funds and will instead allow that credit line to be drawn upon to finance settlement. Under this procedure, Euroclear participants or Clearstream, Luxembourg participants purchasing securities would incur overdraft charges for one business day (assuming they cleared the overdraft as soon as the securities were credited to their accounts). However, interest on the securities would accrue from the value date. Therefore, in many cases, the investment income on securities that is earned during that one business day period may substantially reduce or offset the amount of the overdraft charges. This result will, however, depend on each participant’s particular cost of funds.
Because the settlement will take place during New York business hours, DTC participants will use their usual procedures to deliver securities to the depositary on behalf of Euroclear participants or Clearstream, Luxembourg participants. The sale proceeds will be available to the DTC seller on the settlement date. For the DTC participants, then, a cross-market transaction will settle no differently than a trade between two DTC participants.
Special Timing Considerations
You should be aware that investors will only be able to make and receive deliveries, payments and other communications involving the securities through Clearstream, Luxembourg and Euroclear on days when those
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Table of Contentssystems are open for business. Those systems may not be open for business on days when banks, brokers and other institutions are open for business in the United States.
In addition, because of time-zone differences, there may be problems with completing transactions involving Clearstream, Luxembourg and Euroclear on the same business day as in the United States. U.S. investors who wish to transfer their interests in the securities, or to receive or make a payment or delivery of the securities, on a particular day, may find that the transactions will not be performed until the next business day in Luxembourg or Brussels, depending on whether Clearstream, Luxembourg or Euroclear is used.
United States Taxation
This section describes the material United States federal income tax consequences of owning the debt securities described in this prospectus. It applies to you only if you acquire debt securities in the offering or offerings contemplated by this prospectus and you hold your debt securities as capital assets for tax purposes. It is the opinion of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, our U.S. counsel. This section does not apply to you if you are a member of a class of holders subject to special rules, such as:
This section deals only with debt securities that are due to mature 30 years or less from the date on which they are issued. The United States federal income tax consequences of owning debt securities that are due to mature more than 30 years from their date of issue will be discussed in an applicable prospectus supplement. This section is based on the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), its legislative history, existing and proposed regulations under the Code, published rulings and court decisions, all as currently in effect. These laws are subject to change, possibly on a retroactive basis.
If a partnership holds the notes, the United States federal income tax treatment of a partner will generally depend on the status of the partner and the tax treatment of the partnership. A partner in a partnership holding the notes should consult its tax advisor with regard to the United States federal income tax treatment of an investment in the notes.
Please consult your own tax advisor concerning the consequences of owning these debt securities in your particular circumstances under the Code and the laws of any other taxing jurisdiction.
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Table of ContentsUnited States Holders
This subsection describes the tax consequences to a United States holder. You are a United States holder if you are a beneficial owner of a debt security and you are:
If you are not a United States holder, this subsection does not apply to you and you should refer to “—United States Alien Holders” on pages 35-39.
Payments of Interest
Except as described below in the case of interest on a discount debt security that is not qualified stated interest each as defined below on pages 28-29 under “—Original Issue Discount—General”, you will be taxed on any interest on your debt security, whether payable in U.S. dollars or a foreign currency, including a composite currency or basket of currencies other than U.S. dollars, as ordinary income at the time you receive the interest or when it accrues, depending on your method of accounting for tax purposes.
Interest paid on, and original issue discount (as described below on page 28 under “Original Issue Discount”), if any, accrued with respect to the debt securities that are issued by BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada and any additional amounts paid with respect to withholding tax on the debt securities, including withholding tax on payments of such additional amounts, constitutes income from sources outside the United States, but, with certain exceptions, will be “passive” or “financial services” income, which is treated separately from other types of income for purposes of computing the foreign tax credit allowable to a United States Holder.
Cash Basis Taxpayers. If you are a taxpayer that uses the cash receipts and disbursements method of accounting for tax purposes and you receive an interest payment that is denominated in, or determined by reference to, a foreign currency, you must recognize income equal to the U.S. dollar value of the interest payment, based on the exchange rate in effect on the date of receipt, regardless of whether you actually convert the payment into U.S. dollars.
Accrual Basis Taxpayers. If you are a taxpayer that uses an accrual method of accounting for tax purposes, you may determine the amount of income that you recognize with respect to an interest payment denominated in, or determined by reference to, a foreign currency by using one of two methods. Under the first method, you will determine the amount of income accrued based on the average exchange rate in effect during the interest accrual period or, with respect to an accrual period that spans two taxable years, that part of the period within the taxable year.
If you elect the second method, you would determine the amount of income accrued on the basis of the exchange rate in effect on the last day of the accrual period, or, in the case of an accrual period that spans two taxable years, the exchange rate in effect on the last day of the part of the period within the taxable year. Additionally, under this second method, if you receive a payment of interest within five business days of the last day of your accrual period or taxable year, you may instead translate the interest accrued into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate in effect on the day that you actually receive the interest payment. If you elect the second method it will apply to all debt instruments that you hold at the beginning of the first taxable year to which the election applies and to all debt instruments that you subsequently acquire. You may not revoke this election without the consent of the Internal Revenue Service.
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Table of ContentsWhen you actually receive an interest payment, including a payment attributable to accrued but unpaid interest upon the sale or retirement of your debt security, denominated in, or determined by reference to, a foreign currency for which you accrued an amount of income, you will recognize ordinary income or loss measured by the difference, if any, between the exchange rate that you used to accrue interest income and the exchange rate in effect on the date of receipt, regardless of whether you actually convert the payment into U.S. dollars.
Original Issue Discount
General. If you own a debt security, other than a short-term debt security with a term of one year or less, it will be treated as a discount debt security issued at an original issue discount if the amount by which the debt security’s stated redemption price at maturity exceeds its issue price is more than a de minimis amount. Generally, a debt security’s issue price will be the first price at which a substantial amount of debt securities included in the issue of which the debt security is a part is sold to persons other than bond houses, brokers, or similar persons or organizations acting in the capacity of underwriters, placement agents, or wholesalers. A debt security’s stated redemption price at maturity is the total of all payments provided by the debt security that are not payments of qualified stated interest. Generally, an interest payment on a debt security is qualified stated interest if it is one of a series of stated interest payments on a debt security that are unconditionally payable at least annually at a single fixed rate, with certain exceptions for lower rates paid during some periods, applied to the outstanding principal amount of the debt security. There are special rules for variable rate debt securities that are discussed on pages 31-32 under “—Variable Rate Debt Securities”.
In general, your debt security is not a discount debt security if the amount by which its stated redemption price at maturity exceeds its issue price is less than the de minimis amount of ¼ of 1 percent of its stated redemption price at maturity multiplied by the number of complete years to its maturity. Your debt security will have de minimis original issue discount if the amount of the excess is less than the de minimis amount. If your debt security has de minimis original issue discount, you must include the de minimis amount in income as stated principal payments are made on the debt security, unless you make the election described below on pages 30-31 under “—Election to Treat All Interest as Original Issue Discount”. You can determine the includible amount with respect to each such payment by multiplying the total amount of your debt security’s de minimis original issue discount by a fraction equal to:
Generally, if your discount debt security matures more than one year from its date of issue, you must include original issue discount, or OID, in income before you receive cash attributable to that income. The amount of OID that you must include in income is calculated using a constant-yield method, and generally you will include increasingly greater amounts of OID in income over the life of your debt security. More specifically, you can calculate the amount of OID that you must include in income by adding the daily portions of OID with respect to your discount debt security for each day during the taxable year or portion of the taxable year that you hold your discount debt security. You can determine the daily portion by allocating to each day in any accrual period a pro rata portion of the OID allocable to that accrual period. You may select an accrual period of any length with respect to your discount debt security and you may vary the length of each accrual period over the term of your discount debt security. However, no accrual period may be longer than one year and each scheduled payment of interest or principal on the discount debt security must occur on either the first or final day of an accrual period.
You can determine the amount of OID allocable to an accrual period by:
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You must determine the discount debt security’s yield to maturity on the basis of compounding at the close of each accrual period and adjusting for the length of each accrual period. Further, you determine your discount debt security’s adjusted issue price at the beginning of any accrual period by:
If an interval between payments of qualified stated interest on your discount debt security contains more than one accrual period, then, when you determine the amount of OID allocable to an accrual period, you must allocate the amount of qualified stated interest payable at the end of the interval, including any qualified stated interest that is payable on the first day of the accrual period immediately following the interval, pro rata to each accrual period in the interval based on their relative lengths. In addition, you must increase the adjusted issue price at the beginning of each accrual period in the interval by the amount of any qualified stated interest that has accrued prior to the first day of the accrual period but that is not payable until the end of the interval. You may compute the amount of OID allocable to an initial short accrual period by using any reasonable method if all other accrual periods, other than a final short accrual period, are of equal length.
The amount of OID allocable to the final accrual period is equal to the difference between:
Acquisition Premium. If you purchase your debt security for an amount that is less than or equal to the sum of all amounts, other than qualified stated interest, payable on your debt security after the purchase date but is greater than the amount of your debt security’s adjusted issue price, as determined above on pages 28-29 under “—General”, the excess is acquisition premium. If you do not make the election described below on pages 30-31 under “—Election to Treat All Interest as Original Issue Discount”, then you must reduce the daily portions of OID by a fraction equal to:
Pre-Issuance Accrued Interest. An election may be made to decrease the issue price of your debt security by the amount of pre-issuance accrued interest if:
If this election is made, a portion of the first stated interest payment will be treated as a return of the excluded pre-issuance accrued interest and not as an amount payable on your debt security.
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Table of ContentsDebt Securities Subject to Contingencies Including Optional Redemption. Your debt security is subject to a contingency if it provides for an alternative payment schedule or schedules applicable upon the occurrence of a contingency or contingencies, other than a remote or incidental contingency, whether such contingency relates to payments of interest or of principal. In such a case, you must determine the yield and maturity of your debt security by assuming that the payments will be made according to the payment schedule most likely to occur if:
If there is no single payment schedule that is significantly more likely than not to occur, other than because of a mandatory sinking fund, you must include income on your debt security in accordance with the general rules that govern contingent payment obligations. These rules will be discussed in the applicable prospectus supplement.
Notwithstanding the general rules for determining yield and maturity, if your debt security is subject to contingencies, and either you or we have an unconditional option or options that, if exercised, would require payments to be made on the debt security under an alternative payment schedule or schedules, then:
If both you and we hold options described in the preceding sentence, those rules will apply to each option in the order in which they may be exercised. You may determine the yield on your debt security for the purposes of those calculations by using any date on which your debt security may be redeemed or repurchased as the maturity date and the amount payable on the date that you chose in accordance with the terms of your debt security as the principal amount payable at maturity.
If a contingency, including the exercise of an option, actually occurs or does not occur contrary to an assumption made according to the above rules then, except to the extent that a portion of your debt security is repaid as a result of this change in circumstances and solely to determine the amount and accrual of OID, you must redetermine the yield and maturity of your debt security by treating your debt security as having been retired and reissued on the date of the change in circumstances for an amount equal to your debt security’s adjusted issue price on that date.
Election to Treat All Interest as Original Issue Discount. You may elect to include in gross income all interest that accrues on your debt security using the constant-yield method described above under “—General”, with the modifications described below. For purposes of this election, interest will include stated interest, OID, de minimis original issue discount, market discount, de minimis market discount and unstated interest, as adjusted by any amortizable bond premium, described below under “—Debt Securities Purchased at a Premium,” or acquisition premium.
If you make this election for your debt security, then, when you apply the constant-yield method:
Generally, this election will apply only to the debt security for which you make it; however, if the debt security has amortizable bond premium, you will be deemed to have made an election to apply amortizable bond
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Table of Contentspremium against interest for all debt instruments with amortizable bond premium, other than debt instruments the interest on which is excludible from gross income, that you hold as of the beginning of the taxable year to which the election applies or any taxable year thereafter. Additionally, if you make this election for a market discount debt security, you will be treated as having made the election discussed below on pages 33-34 under “—Market Discount” to include market discount in income currently over the life of all debt instruments that you currently own or later acquire. You may not revoke any election to apply the constant-yield method to all interest on a debt security or the deemed elections with respect to amortizable bond premium or market discount debt securities without the consent of the Internal Revenue Service.
Variable Rate Debt Securities. Your debt security will be a variable rate debt security if:
Your debt security will have a variable rate that is a qualified floating rate if:
If your debt security provides for two or more qualified floating rates that are within 0.25 percentage points of each other on the issue date or can reasonably be expected to have approximately the same values throughout the term of the debt security, the qualified floating rates together constitute a single qualified floating rate.
Your debt security will not have a qualified floating rate, however, if the rate is subject to certain restrictions (including caps, floors, governors, or other similar restrictions) unless such restrictions are fixed throughout the term of the debt security or are not reasonably expected to significantly affect the yield on the debt security.
Your debt security will have a variable rate that is a single objective rate if:
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Table of ContentsYour debt security will not have a variable rate that is an objective rate, however, if it is reasonably expected that the average value of the rate during the first half of your debt security’s term will be either significantly less than or significantly greater than the average value of the rate during the final half of your debt security’s term.
An objective rate as described above is a qualified inverse floating rate if:
Your debt security will also have a single qualified floating rate or an objective rate if interest on your debt security is stated at a fixed rate for an initial period of one year or less followed by either a qualified floating rate or an objective rate for a subsequent period, and either:
In general, if your variable rate debt security provides for stated interest at a single qualified floating rate or objective rate, or one of those rates after a single fixed rate for an initial period, all stated interest on your debt security is qualified stated interest. In this case, the amount of OID, if any, is determined by using, in the case of a qualified floating rate or qualified inverse floating rate, the value as of the issue date of the qualified floating rate or qualified inverse floating rate, or, for any other objective rate, a fixed rate that reflects the yield reasonably expected for your debt security.
If your variable rate debt security does not provide for stated interest at a single qualified floating rate or a single objective rate, and also does not provide for interest payable at a fixed rate other than a single fixed rate for an initial period, you generally must determine the interest and OID accruals on your debt security by:
When you determine the fixed rate substitute for each variable rate provided under the variable rate debt security, you generally will use the value of each variable rate as of the issue date or, for an objective rate that is not a qualified inverse floating rate, a rate that reflects the reasonably expected yield on your debt security.
If your variable rate debt security provides for stated interest either at one or more qualified floating rates or at a qualified inverse floating rate, and also provides for stated interest at a single fixed rate other than at a single fixed rate for an initial period, you generally must determine interest and OID accruals by using the method described in the previous paragraph. However, your variable rate debt security will be treated, for purposes of the first three steps of the determination, as if your debt security had provided for a qualified floating rate, or a qualified inverse floating rate, rather than the fixed rate. The qualified floating rate, or qualified inverse floating rate, that replaces the fixed rate must be such that the fair market value of your variable rate debt security as of the issue date approximates the fair market value of an otherwise identical debt instrument that provides for the qualified floating rate, or qualified inverse floating rate, rather than the fixed rate.
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Table of ContentsShort-Term Debt Securities. In general, if you are an individual or other cash basis United States holder of a short-term debt security, you are not required to accrue OID, as specially defined below for the purposes of this paragraph, for United States federal income tax purposes unless you elect to do so (although it is possible that you may be required to include any stated interest in income as you receive it). If you are an accrual basis taxpayer, a taxpayer in a special class, including, but not limited to, a regulated investment company, common trust fund, or a certain type of pass-through entity, or a cash basis taxpayer who so elects, you will be required to accrue OID on short-term debt securities on either a straight-line basis or under the constant-yield method, based on daily compounding. If you are not required and do not elect to include OID in income currently, any gain you realize on the sale or retirement of your short-term debt security will be ordinary income to the extent of the accrued OID, which will be determined on a straight-line basis unless you make an election to accrue the OID under the constant-yield method, through the date of sale or retirement. However, if you are not required and do not elect to accrue OID on your short-term debt securities, you will be required to defer deductions for interest on borrowings allocable to your short-term debt securities in an amount not exceeding the deferred income until the deferred income is realized.
When you determine the amount of OID subject to these rules, you must include all interest payments on your short-term debt security, including stated interest, in your short-term debt security’s stated redemption price at maturity.
Foreign Currency Discount Debt Securities. If your discount debt security is denominated in, or determined by reference to, a foreign currency, you must determine OID for any accrual period on your discount debt security in the foreign currency and then translate the amount of OID into U.S. dollars in the same manner as stated interest accrued by an accrual basis United States holder, as described on page 27 under “—United States Holders—Payments of Interest”. You may recognize ordinary income or loss when you receive an amount attributable to OID in connection with a payment of interest or the sale or retirement of your debt security.
Market Discount
You will be treated as if you purchased your debt security, other than a short-term debt security, at a market discount, and your debt security will be a market discount debt security if:
If your debt security’s stated redemption price at maturity or, in the case of a discount debt security, its revised issue price, exceeds the price you paid for the debt security by less than ¼ of 1 percent multiplied by the number of complete years to the debt security’s maturity, the excess constitutes de minimis market discount, and the rules discussed below are not applicable to you.
You must treat any gain you recognize on the maturity or disposition of your market discount debt security as ordinary income to the extent of the accrued market discount on your debt security. Alternatively, you may elect to include market discount in income currently over the life of your debt security. If you make this election, it will apply to all debt instruments with market discount that you acquire on or after the first day of the first taxable year to which the election applies. You may not revoke this election without the consent of the Internal Revenue Service. If you own a market discount debt security and do not make this election, you will generally be required to defer deductions for interest on borrowings allocable to your debt security in an amount not exceeding the accrued market discount on your debt security until the maturity or disposition of your debt security.
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Table of ContentsYou will accrue market discount on your market discount debt security on a straight-line basis unless you elect to accrue market discount using a constant-yield method. If you make this election, it will apply only to the debt security with respect to which it is made and you may not revoke it.
Debt Securities Purchased at a Premium.
If you purchase your debt security for an amount in excess of its principal amount, you may elect to treat the excess as amortizable bond premium. If you make this election, you will reduce the amount required to be included in your income each year with respect to interest on your debt security by the amount of amortizable bond premium allocable to that year, based on your debt security’s yield to maturity. If your debt security is denominated in, or determined by reference to, a foreign currency, you will compute your amortizable bond premium in units of the foreign currency and your amortizable bond premium will reduce your interest income in units of the foreign currency. Gain or loss recognized that is attributable to changes in exchange rates between the time your amortized bond premium offsets interest income and the time of the acquisition of your debt security is generally taxable as ordinary income or loss. If you make an election to amortize bond premium, it will apply to all debt instruments, other than debt instruments the interest on which is excludible from gross income, that you hold at the beginning of the first taxable year to which the election applies or that you thereafter acquire, and you may not revoke it without the consent of the Internal Revenue Service. See also “Original Issue Discount—Election to Treat All Interest as Original Issue Discount.”
Purchase, Sale and Retirement of the Debt Securities.
Your tax basis in your debt security will generally be the U.S. dollar cost, as defined below, of your debt security, adjusted by:
If you purchase your debt security with foreign currency, the U.S. dollar cost of your debt security will generally be the U.S. dollar value of the purchase price on the date of purchase. However, if you are a cash basis taxpayer, or an accrual basis taxpayer if you so elect, and your debt security is traded on an established securities market, as defined in the applicable Treasury regulations, the U.S. dollar cost of your debt security will be the U.S. dollar value of the purchase price on the settlement date of your purchase.
You will generally recognize gain or loss on the sale or retirement of your debt security equal to the difference between the amount you realize on the sale or retirement and your tax basis in your debt security. If your debt security is sold or retired for an amount in foreign currency, the amount you realize will be the U.S. dollar value of such amount on the date the debt security is disposed of or retired, except that in the case of a debt security that is traded on an established securities market, as defined in the applicable Treasury regulations, a cash basis taxpayer, or an accrual basis taxpayer that so elects, will determine the amount realized based on the U.S. dollar value of the foreign currency on the settlement date of the sale.
You will recognize capital gain or loss when you sell or retire your debt security, except to the extent:
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Table of ContentsCapital gain of a noncorporate United States holder that is recognized before January 1, 2011 is generally taxed at a maximum rate of 15% where the holder has a holding period greater than one year.
You must treat any portion of the gain or loss that you recognize on the sale or retirement of a debt security as ordinary income or loss to the extent attributable to changes in exchange rates. However, you take exchange gain or loss into account only to the extent of the total gain or loss you realize on the transaction.
Exchange of Amounts in Other Than U.S. Dollars
If you receive foreign currency as interest on your debt security or on the sale or retirement of your debt security, your tax basis in the foreign currency will equal its U.S. dollar value when the interest is received or at the time of the sale or retirement. If you purchase foreign currency, you generally will have a tax basis equal to the U.S. dollar value of the foreign currency on the date of your purchase. If you sell or dispose of a foreign currency, including if you use it to purchase debt securities or exchange it for U.S. dollars, any gain or loss recognized generally will be ordinary income or loss.
Indexed Debt Securities
The applicable prospectus supplement will discuss any special United States federal income tax rules with respect to debt securities the payments on which are determined by reference to any index and other debt securities that are subject to the rules governing contingent payment obligations which are not subject to the rules governing variable rate debt securities.
United States Alien Holders (BP Capital America)
This subsection describes the tax consequences to a United States alien holder of debt securities issued by BP Capital America. You are a United States alien holder if you are the beneficial owner of a debt security and are, for United States federal income tax purposes:
If you are a United States holder, or a holder of debt securities issued by a BP Debt Issuer other than BP Capital America, this subsection does not apply to you.
This discussion assumes that the debt security is not subject to the rules of Section 871(h)(4)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to interest payments that are determined by reference to the income, profits, changes in the value of property or other attributes of the debtor or a related party.
Under United States federal income and estate tax law, and subject to the discussion of backup withholding below, if you are a United States alien holder of a debt security:
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Further, a debt security held by an individual who at death is not a citizen or resident of the United States will not be includible in the individual’s gross estate for United States federal estate tax purposes if:
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Table of ContentsUnited States Alien Holders (BP Capital U.K. and BP Canada)
This subsection describes the tax consequences to a United States alien holder of debt securities issued by BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada. If you are a United States holder, or a holder of debt securities issued by BP Capital America, this subsection does not apply to you.
Payments of Interest
Subject to the discussion of backup withholding below, payments of principal, premium, if any, and interest, including OID, on a debt security is exempt from U.S. federal income tax, including withholding tax, whether or not you are engaged in a trade or business in the United States, unless:
Purchase, Sale or Retirement of Debt Securities
You generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on gain realized on the sale, exchange or retirement of a debt security unless:
For purposes of U.S. federal estate tax, the debt securities will be treated as situated outside the United States and will not be includable in the gross estate of a holder who is neither a citizen nor a resident of the United States at the time of death.
Treasury Regulations Requiring Disclosure of Reportable Transactions
Recently-promulgated Treasury regulations require United States taxpayers to report certain transactions that give rise to a loss in excess of certain thresholds (a “Reportable Transaction”). Under these regulations, if the debt securities are denominated in a foreign currency, a United States holder (or a United States alien holder that holds the debt securities in connection with a U.S. trade or business) that recognizes a loss with respect to the debt securities that is characterized as an ordinary loss due to changes in currency exchange rates (under any of the rules discussed above) would be required to report the loss on Internal Revenue Service Form 8886 (Reportable Transaction Statement) if the loss exceeds the thresholds set forth in the regulations. For individuals and trusts, this loss threshold is $50,000 in any single taxable year. For other types of taxpayers and other types of losses, the thresholds are higher. We urge you to consult with your tax advisor regarding any tax filing and reporting obligations that may apply in connection with acquiring, owning and disposing of debt securities.
Backup Withholding and Information Reporting (BP Capital America)
This section describes the backup withholding and information reporting requirements relating to holders of debt securities issued by BP Capital America.
In general, if you are a noncorporate United States holder, we and other payors are required to report to the Internal Revenue Service all payments of principal, any premium and interest on your debt security, and the accrual of OID on a discount debt security. In addition, we and other payors are required to report to the Internal Revenue Service any payment of proceeds of the sale of your debt security before maturity within the United
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Table of ContentsStates. Additionally, backup withholding will apply to any payments, including payments of OID, if you fail to provide an accurate taxpayer identification number, or you are notified by the Internal Revenue Service that you have failed to report all interest and dividends required to be shown on your federal income tax returns.
In general, if you are a United States alien holder, payments of principal, premium or interest, including OID, made by us and other payors to you will not be subject to backup withholding and information reporting, provided that the certification requirements described above on pages 35-36 under “—United States Alien Holders (BP Capital America)” are satisfied or you otherwise establish an exemption. However, we and other payors are required to report payments of interest on your debt securities on Internal Revenue Service Form 1042-S even if the payments are not otherwise subject to information reporting requirements. In addition, payment of the proceeds from the sale of debt securities effected at a United States office of a broker will not be subject to backup withholding and information reporting provided that:
If you fail to establish an exemption and the broker does not possess adequate documentation of your status as a non-United States person, the payments may be subject to information reporting and backup withholding. However, backup withholding will not apply with respect to payments made to an offshore account maintained by you unless the broker has actual knowledge that you are a United States person.
In general, payment of the proceeds from the sale of debt securities effected at a foreign office of a broker will not be subject to information reporting or backup withholding. However, a sale effected at a foreign office of a broker will be subject to information reporting and backup withholding if:
unless the broker does not have actual knowledge or reason to know that you are a United States person and the documentation requirements described above (relating to a sale of debt securities effected at a United States office of a broker) are met or you otherwise establish an exemption.
In addition, payment of the proceeds from the sale of debt securities effected at a foreign office of a broker will be subject to information reporting if the broker is:
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unless the broker does not have actual knowledge or reason to know that you are a United States person and the documentation requirements described above (relating to a sale of debt securities effected at a United States office of a broker) are met or you otherwise establish an exemption. Backup withholding will apply if the sale is subject to information reporting and the broker has actual knowledge that you are a United States person.
Backup Withholding and Information Reporting (BP Capital U.K. and BP Canada)
This section describes the backup withholding and information reporting requirements regarding holders of debt securities issued by BP Capital U.K. or BP Canada.
United States Holders
If you are a noncorporate United States holder, information reporting requirements generally will apply to payments of principal and interest on a debt security within the United States, including payments made by wire transfer from outside the United States to an account you maintain in the United States, and the payment of the proceeds from the sale of a debt security effected at a United States office of a broker.
Additionally, backup withholding will apply to such payments if you are a noncorporate United States holder that:
United States Alien Holders
If you are a United States alien holder, you are generally exempt from backup withholding and information reporting requirements with respect to:
Payment of the proceeds from the sale of debt securities issued by BP Capital U.K. and BP Canada will have the same information reporting and backup withholding consequences as payments of the proceeds from the sale of debt securities issued by BP Capital America described above.
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Table of ContentsUnited Kingdom Taxation
The following is a summary of the material United Kingdom withholding tax consequences at the date hereof in relation to the payment of principal, interest, discount and premium in respect of the debt securities and also contains a summary of the material United Kingdom tax consequences of the ownership and disposition of debt securities. Except where the context otherwise requires, the comments relate only to the position of persons who are absolute beneficial owners of the debt securities and do not deal with the position of certain classes of holders such as dealers. This section is the opinion of the Group General Counsel to BP. We urge prospective investors who are in any doubt as to their tax positions to consult their professional advisers.
1. Debt securities issued by BP Capital U.K. (“U.K. debt securities”)
(A) While U.K. debt securities continue to be listed on a recognized stock exchange as defined in Section 841 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (which includes the London and Paris Stock Exchanges), payments of interest may be made without withholding or deduction for or on account of United Kingdom income tax.
(B) Interest on the debt securities may also be paid without withholding or deduction on account of United Kingdom tax where interest on the debt securities is paid to a person who belongs in the United Kingdom and the Issuer reasonably believes (and any person by or through whom interest on the debt securities is paid reasonably believes) that the beneficial owner is within the charge to United Kingdom corporation tax as regards the payment of interest at the time the payment is made, provided that the HM Revenue & Customs has not given a direction that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it is likely that the beneficial owner is not within the charge to United Kingdom corporation tax in respect of such payment of interest at the time the payment is made.
(C) In all cases not falling within paragraph (A) or (B) above, subject to relief under an applicable double taxation treaty, interest on U.K. debt securities will be paid under deduction of United Kingdom income tax at the lower rate (currently 20%) except in the case of interest on U.K. debt securities with a maturity date of less than one year from the date of issue (and the borrowing under such debt securities at no time forms part of a borrowing which is intended to have a total term of one year or more).
(D) Payments on debt securities that, although not expressed to be interest, fall to be treated as yearly interest for United Kingdom tax purposes will also be subject to the withholding tax rules described above. A premium payable on a redemption of a debt security may fall to be treated as yearly interest for United Kingdom tax purposes. When U.K. debt securities are issued at a discount or redeemable at a premium, United Kingdom withholding tax will not apply to the payment of such discount or premium so long as it does not constitute yearly interest for U.K. tax purposes (other than discount treated as interest solely by virtue of Section 381 Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005).
(E) Payments, or parts thereof, constituting income in respect of U.K. debt securities have a United Kingdom source and accordingly will be chargeable to United Kingdom tax by direct assessment even if paid without withholding or deduction. However, income in respect of debt securities with a United Kingdom source received by a holder of debt securities without deduction or withholding on account of United Kingdom tax will not be chargeable to United Kingdom tax by direct assessment unless that securities holder carries on a trade, profession or vocation in the United Kingdom through a United Kingdom branch, agency or permanent establishment in connection with which the income is received or to which the debt securities are attributable. There are certain exemptions for income received by certain categories of agent (such as some brokers and investment managers).
2. Debt Securities issued by BP Capital America and BP Canada (“non-U.K. debt securities”)
(A) Payments of interest on non-U.K. debt securities may be made without withholding on account of United Kingdom income tax.
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Table of Contents(B) Any income in respect of debt securities issued by BP Capital America or BP Canada acting through a permanent establishment located in the United Kingdom may have a United Kingdom source. The statements in paragraphs 1(A) to (E) above may apply to any such income having a United Kingdom source.
3. All debt securities
(A) Holders of debt securities which are companies within the charge to U.K. corporation tax may be subject to U.K. corporation tax on their holding, disposal and redemption (including a part redemption of debt securities that are redeemable in two or more installments) of debt securities. In general, all returns on and fluctuations in the value of the debt securities will be charged to tax as income in accordance with securities holders’ statutory accounting treatment. Such securities holders will generally be charged to tax in each accounting period by reference to the interest accrued in that period. Fluctuations in value relating to foreign exchange gains and losses in respect of the debt securities will also be brought into account as income.
(B) Holders of debt securities who are individuals and who are resident or ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom or carry on a trade in the United Kingdom through a branch or agency to which debt securities are attributable may be subject to U.K. income or capital gains tax on the disposal or redemption (including a part redemption of debt securities that are redeemable in two or more installments) of debt securities. The nature of the tax charge will depend on the terms of the debt securities in question and the particular circumstances of the relevant securities holder. In particular, we urge individual securities holders to have regard, where appropriate, to the capital gains tax legislation, the “accrued income scheme” and the “deeply discounted securities legislation” and to note that under certain provisions of United Kingdom tax legislation (the “deeply discounted securities legislation”) the issue of debt securities under a particular Pricing Supplement may, in certain circumstances, alter the tax treatment of debt securities previously issued.
4. Provision of Information by and/or to the HM Revenue & Customs
Securities holders who are individuals may wish to note that HM Revenue & Customs has power to obtain information (including the name and address of the beneficial owner of the interest) from any person in the United Kingdom:
5. Guarantee Payments
Any payments made by BP under the guarantee either to:
will have a U.K. source for U.K. tax purposes. Therefore recipients may be assessed for U.K. tax on the receipt of this payment. However, where a payment is made without deduction or withholding on account of United Kingdom tax to a holder who is resident in another jurisdiction, the recipient will not be directly assessed for U.K. tax on that payment, unless such recipient carries on a trade, profession or vocation in the U.K. through a U.K. branch, agency or permanent establishment in connection with which the interest is received or to which those debt securities are attributable, in which case (subject to exceptions for interest received by certain categories of agents) tax may be levied on the U.K. branch, agency or permanent establishment.
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Table of Contents6. Inheritance Tax
A holder of debt securities who is an individual domiciled outside the United Kingdom will generally not be liable to U.K. inheritance tax in respect of his holding of debt securities. This will be the case if a register of the debt securities is maintained outside the United Kingdom. If no register is maintained, there may be a liability to inheritance tax if the debt securities are held in the United Kingdom. If so, exemption from or reduction in any U.K. inheritance tax liability may be available for holders of debt securities who are resident in the United States under the Estate Tax Treaty made between the United Kingdom and the United States.
Holders of debt securities who are domiciled in the United Kingdom may be liable to inheritance tax with respect of their holdings of debt securities.
7. Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Reserve Tax
No U.K. stamp duty or stamp duty reserve tax will generally be payable by a holder of debt securities on the creation, issue or redemption of the debt securities by BP Capital U.K.
No liability for U.K. stamp duty or stamp duty reserve tax will arise on a transfer of, or an agreement to transfer, debt securities unless such securities carry:
Where non-U.K. debt securities carry any of the above rights then no liability to U.K. stamp duty reserve tax should arise on an agreement to transfer such securities provided that the register for such securities is maintained outside the United Kingdom and no liability to U.K. stamp duty should arise on the transfer of such securities provided that the instrument of transfer is not executed in the United Kingdom and does not relate to any property situated, or to any matter done or to be done, in the United Kingdom.
8. European Union Directive on the Taxation of Savings Income
Under European Council Directive 2003/48/EC on the taxation of savings income, Member States of the European Union are required to provide to the tax authorities of another Member State details of payments of interest (or similar income) paid by a person within its jurisdiction to an individual resident in that other Member State. However, for a transitional period, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria are instead required (unless during that period they elect otherwise) to operate a withholding system in relation to such payments (the ending of such transitional period being dependent upon the conclusion of certain other agreements relating to information exchange with certain other countries). A number of non-EU countries and territories have agreed to adopt similar measures.
Please consult your own tax advisor concerning the consequences of owning these debt securities in your particular circumstances under the Code and the laws of any other taxing jurisdiction.
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Table of ContentsCanadian Taxation
The following is a summary of the material Canadian federal income tax consequences at the date of the prospectus to a holder of debt securities who is a non-resident of Canada in relation to the payment of principal, interest, discount and premium in respect of debt securities issued by BP Canada. This summary is based on the current provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and the regulations under that Act in force on the date of this prospectus. This section is the opinion of the Senior Legal Counsel of BP Canada. This summary does not otherwise take into account or anticipate changes in the law whether by judicial, governmental or legislative decisions or action, nor does it take into account tax legislation or considerations of any province or territory of Canada or any jurisdiction other than Canada.
This summary assumes that, throughout the period debt securities are outstanding, BP Canada will deal with you at arm’s length within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada), and that BP Canada will not, under any circumstances be obliged to pay more than 25% of the aggregate principal amount of the debt securities within five years from the later of the date of issue of any debt securities, or if payment in full of any debt securities is not made on the date of issue, within five years from the date of final payment being made for such debt securities, except in the event of a failure or default under the terms of the debt securities or of any agreement relating to the debt securities or if the terms of the debt securities or any such agreement become unlawful or are changed by legislative, judicial or administrative action.
The payment by BP Canada of interest or principal on the debt securities to a holder who is a non-resident of Canada and with whom BP Canada deals at arm’s length within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada), at the time amounts are payable, in the case of interest, or at the time the payments are made, in the case of principal, will be exempt from Canadian withholding tax. For the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada), related persons, (as defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada)) are deemed not to deal at arm’s length and it is a question of fact whether persons not related to each other deal at arm’s length.
In addition, to qualify for the exemption, no portion of the interest may be contingent or dependent upon the use of or production from property in Canada, or be computed by reference to revenue, profit, cash flow, commodity price or any similar criterion or by reference to dividends paid or payable to shareholders of any class of shares of the capital stock of a corporation.
No other taxes on income (including taxable capital gains) will be payable under the Income Tax Act (Canada) on the holding, redemption or disposition of the debt securities, or the receipt of interest on the debt securities by holders who are neither residents nor deemed to be residents of Canada for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and who do not use or hold and are not deemed by those laws to use or hold the debt securities in carrying on business in Canada for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada), except that in some circumstances holders who are non-resident insurers carrying on an insurance business in Canada and elsewhere may be subject to those taxes.
There are no estate taxes or succession duties imposed under the federal laws of Canada.
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Table of ContentsPLAN OF DISTRIBUTION
We may sell the securities offered by this prospectus:
The prospectus supplement relating to any offering will identify or describe:
Underwriters
If we use underwriters in the sale, they will acquire securities for their own account and may resell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions, at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. Unless we otherwise state in the prospectus supplement, various conditions to the underwriters’ obligation to purchase securities apply, and the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the securities contemplated in an offering if they purchase any of such securities. Any initial public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers may be changed from time to time.
Dealers
If we use dealers in the sale, unless we otherwise indicate in the prospectus supplement, we will sell securities to the dealers as principals. The dealers may then resell the securities to the public at varying prices that the dealers may determine at the time of resale.
Agents and Direct Sales
We may sell securities directly or through agents that we designate. The prospectus supplement will name any agent involved in the offering and sale and states any commissions we will pay to that agent. Unless we indicate otherwise in the prospectus supplement, any agent is acting on a best efforts basis for the period of its appointment.
Institutional Investors
If we indicate in the prospectus supplement, we will authorize underwriters, dealers or agents to solicit offers from various institutional investors to purchase securities. In this case, payment and delivery will be made on a future date that the prospectus supplement specifies. The underwriters, dealers or agents may impose limitations on the minimum amount that the institutional investor can purchase. They may also impose
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Table of Contentslimitations on the portion of the aggregate amount of the securities that they may sell. These institutional investors include:
The obligations of any of these purchasers pursuant to delayed delivery and payment arrangements will not be subject to any conditions. However, one exception applies. An institution’s purchase of the particular securities cannot at the time of delivery be prohibited under the laws of any jurisdiction that governs:
Indemnification
Agreements that we have entered into with underwriters, dealers or agents may entitle them to indemnification by us against various civil liabilities. These include liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933. The agreements may also entitle them to contribution for payments which they may be required to make as a result of these liabilities. Underwriters, dealers and agents may be customers of, engage in transactions with, or perform services for, us in the ordinary course of business.
Market Making
In the event that we do not list securities of any series on a U.S. national securities exchange, various broker-dealers may make a market in the securities, but will have no obligation to do so, and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. Consequently, it may be the case that no broker-dealer will make a market in securities of any series or that the liquidity of the trading market for the securities will be limited.
Certain Selling Restrictions
The debt securities have not been, and will not be, qualified for sale under the securities law of Canada or any province or territory thereof. Unless otherwise specified in the relevant prospectus supplement, all debt securities of BP Canada will be issued with minimum denominations of CAN$150,000 or its equivalent in other currencies or, in the case of zero coupon debt securities, having an amortized face amount of at least CAN$150,000 or its equivalent in other currencies. In addition, debt securities will not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly, in Canada or to, or for the benefit of, any resident thereof except pursuant to available exemptions from applicable Canadian provincial or territorial securities laws.
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Table of ContentsVALIDITY OF SECURITIES
The Group General Counsel of BP will pass upon the validity of the debt securities and guarantees as to matters of English law. The Managing Attorney—Corporate of BP will pass upon the validity of the debt securities and guarantees as to matters of United States law. The Senior Legal Counsel of BP Canada will pass upon Canadian law matters. (The opinion of the Senior Legal Counsel to BP Canada will state that claims may be barred pursuant to laws relating to limitation of actions, interest on judgment debt is limited pursuant to the Judgment Interest Act (Alberta) and a court in Canada is precluded from giving a judgment in any currency other than Canadian currency pursuant to the Currency Act (Canada)).
In connection with particular offerings of debt securities in the future, the validity of those debt securities may be passed upon by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, U.S. counsel to BP, as to certain matters of New York law. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP or any other law firm named in the applicable prospectus supplement will pass upon the validity of those debt securities and certain other matters of New York law for any underwriters or agents.
EXPERTS
The consolidated financial statements and schedule of BP appearing in BP’s Annual Report on Form 20-F/A for the year ended December 31, 2005, have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their report thereon included therein and incorporated herein by reference. Such consolidated financial statements and schedule have been incorporated herein by reference in reliance upon such report given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
ENFORCEABILITY OF CERTAIN CIVIL LIABILITIES
BP and BP Capital U.K. are public limited companies incorporated under the laws of England and Wales. BP Canada is incorporated under the laws of Nova Scotia. Many of our directors and officers, and some of the experts named in this document, reside outside the United States, principally in the United Kingdom. In addition, although we have substantial assets in the United States, a large portion of our assets and the assets of our directors and officers is located outside of the United States. As a result, U.S. investors may find it difficult in a lawsuit based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws:
EXPENSES
The following are the estimated expenses to be incurred in connection with the issuance and distribution of the debt securities registered with the SEC under the registration statement:
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Table of Contents
No person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus and, if given or made, such information or representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized. This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the securities described in this prospectus supplement or an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy such securities in any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. Neither the delivery of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus nor any sale made hereunder or thereunder shall, under any circumstances, create any implication that there has been no change in the affairs of BP Capital Markets p.l.c. or BP p.l.c. since the date hereof or that the information contained herein or therein is correct as of any time subsequent to the date of such information.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Prospectus Supplement
$1,000,000,000
BP Capital Markets p.l.c.
Floating Rate Guaranteed Notes due 2010
Payment of the principal of and interest on the notes is guaranteed by
BP p.l.c.
Prospectus Supplement
March 12, 2008
Lehman Brothers
RBC Capital Markets
UBS Investment Bank
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