BP partner bars reporters

BP's partner in its controversial oil sands project in Canada, Husky Energy, took the unusual step of barring most journalists from its annual meeting yesterday, declaring that the event was not newsworthy. There have been protests about the potential environmental damage that could be caused by the so-called Sunrise project. Reporters have never before been banned from the event. A select number of industry analysts were invited to the gathering as "guests" of the group's retiring chief executive, John Lau. A spokesman for the group said that the company, Canada's third-biggest oil explorer and refiner, had nothing to announce until its first-quarter results, scheduled for next week. "Our Q1 is next week and that is what we are trying to preserve our focus for," he said. Husky is controlled by the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing. The group is planning to spin off its Asian operations, and is investing $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in Sunrise.