I’m sure you’ve seen the news coverage of what’s been happening with BP’s oil pipeline and the environmental disaster that followed. It’s still continuing. If you didn’t hear about that then perhaps you heard about how much BP, the company responsible, have lost with regards to the value of their company. The stock price has almost halved since the disaster truck. So maybe you’re like a lot of other people out there and wondering if now is a good time to buy BP shares?

First thing I’d ask you is, how is your conscience? Do you only invest in clean living green companies? Or is your portfolio made up the worst gun slingers and tobacco pushers in town? We’re all here to make money after all right? If you fall into the latter category, maybe you’ve bought stocks in BP already. If you’re in the former than maybe this purchase will be a little tougher. I can appreciate how difficult a call it is after watching some of the footage on TV. It’s not just the wildlife that its affected, it’s millions of people across the coastline who’s livelihoods are affected. So if you think this is something that will play on your mind long after you’ve bought some stocks in BP, stay clear. There’s many more options out there for you without losing sleep over it.

In any case, is it actually a good idea to buy shares in BP right now? Lets take a look at the facts. The first one staring everyone in the face, the price has halved in little over a few months. Nothing has changed to do with their business model. Nothing has changed with their management. It’s the same company just at half price. The only problem is they now owe a massive amount of debt to the U.S Government. That’s right, Mr Obama has come calling already looking for a pay of. He call it a ‘good start’. $20 Billion is a good start? You can see where I’m going with this. If you do everything properly and get BP company blurb out in the post then pour over their figures. There’s still going to be a massive black hole at the end with this debt. It seems like a bottomless pit. Who knows how much BP will have to pay back to cover the costs. I guess it’s really up to the president. At the end of the year, how will you know if BP is likely to make a profit or not? I’d imagine that they’ve already lost quite a bit with the oil that’s actually poured out into the sea too.

So would I buy BP shares? Personally I’d give them a miss. There’s too many unknown factors involved that it’s too hard to predict how their finances will look. It’s impossible to tell if it’s a good investment or not. Why not take a look at how other companies in the oil industry are doing, perhaps their share prices have been affected. You may actually pick up a bargain there the difference being that there’s no massive debt owed to the U.S Government.