Deepwater spill hammers company stocks

Stock market players are punishing the share prices of companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.

Shares of oil giant BP, which leased the drilling rig, had fallen about $8 US since the Deepwater Horizon caught fire and exploded on April 20. They closed Friday down41 cents to $52.15 after droppingnearly $5 on Thursday.

Deepwater Horizon was working at a sub-sea well about 80 kilometres off the coast of Louisiana and 1,500 metres below the water's surface. The rig sank two days after the explosion,which left11 crew missing and an estimated 5,000 barrelsof sweet crude oil leaking daily.

Shares of Transocean Ltd., owner of the rig, wereat $72.32, down by $6.19. Its stock is downnearly $20 since the explosion.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owns aone-quarter interest in the well, wasat $62.16, down by $5.17.

Cameron International Corp., whichmakes oilfield equipment including the blowout preventers used on the rig, fell in early trading but then rebounded 46 cents to $39.46. It's down about $7 since April 20.

Halliburton, which provided oilfield services for the project,traded at $30.65, down95 cents. It'sfallen about $2.50 since the explosion.

In contrast to the price drops of the U.S. stocks, the TSX energy sub-index a proxy for the prices of Canadian energy stocks was up 1.65 points Friday and up 4.17 points since April 20.

BP is responsible for cleaning up the spill, but liability could be widespread, depending on the cause, the wording of contracts between the companies and insurance policies.

The Gulf Coast of the U.S. could be facing an environmental disaster as the oil comes ashore. BP officialshave estimatedit could take as long as 90 days to stop the leak.