BP Spinoff Case Overstated

(TheStreet) -- A spinoff by BP BP of its refining and marketing business is the type of financial engineering trick that will assuage frustrated shareholders and fatten the coffers of investment bankers, but makes less sense from a strategic standpoint for the oil company. JPMorgan may have added to the support for a BP refinery spinoff on Monday, pegging the spinoff value to BP shares at $100 billion, but the investment bank's not the first to raise the subject since ConocoPhillips COP announced its plans to spin off its refining operations. JPMorgan chose a good time, too, to push the BP spinoff plan. BP is set to kick off big oil earnings season on Tuesday morning, and the ConocoPhillips spinoff plans were just revealed this month, meaning that second-quarter conference calls will be Wall Street's first chance to press "Big Oil" companies on spinoff plans. That's not a chance Wall Street will pass up. "Everyone will get asked about it. ConocoPhillips brought it into the forefront again, and anytime somebody does a transaction the Street wants everyone to do it to get their money," said Argus Research analyst Phil Weiss. Continue reading the article.