BP shares fell more than four per cent Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange as executives met with U.S. President Barack Obama to negotiate how much the company will pay for cleanup and compensation from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Some analysts expect BP will suspend payment of its dividend and put the money instead into an account reserved for paying for cleanup and compensation claims.

BP shares hit a 14-year low of $29.20 on the New York Stock Exchange on June 9. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

Its stock was trading at $29.98 US, down $1.42, or 4.5 per cent, at 11:16 a.m. ET. The shares hit a 14-year low of $29.20 on June 9 and have lost half their value since the blowout began on April 20th.

CEO Tony Hayward, chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP America president Lamar McKay and managing director Robert Dudley were holding their first face-to-face meeting with Obama since the disaster occurred.

They were meeting at the White House a day after the president vowed in a speech to make the company pay for what he termed its "recklessness."

Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron had told the BBC BP would need certainty about how much it will have to pay to meet "reasonable claims" for damage, and the assurance "that there won't be claims entertained that are three, four times removed from the oil spill."

The shares may fall further if the U.S. government orders BP to set aside more than the $20 billion maximum many investors expect, or if there is no limit on its liability.

BP, which earned a profit of $6.1 billion in the first three months of this year, has spent more than $1.4 billion on trying to contain the blowout.

Financial data provider Markit reported Wednesday that the cost of financial instruments to insure against BP's defaulting on its debt had soared to a new high.

The cost to insure $10 million in debt had reached $600,000 a year, up from $485,000 on Tuesday.

Fitch Ratings cut BP's credit rating by six notches on Tuesday out of concern for the liability costs faced by the oil giant.

With files from The Associated Press