The platform, located 150 miles (250 kilometres) southeast of New Orleans, was "listing following the passing of Hurricane Dennis", BP said in an official statement, adding there had been no leaks or injuries.

Thunder Horse was due to start production at the end of 2005.

"Early reports confirmed that the platform is listing an estimated 20-30 degrees," the statement added.

In reaction, BP sank by nearly 2.0 percent in London trade, before pulling back slightly to 626.5 pence in late afternoon trading. Meanwhile the capital's FTSE 100 index of leading shares slipped 0.27 percent to 5,228.20 points.

Workers were evacuated from all Gulf of Mexico oil facilities on Friday in the face of the threat from the hurricane but have since begun returning to work after most infrastructures escaped its impact.

BP spokeswoman Julia Yakimova told AFP it was unclear whether Hurricane Dennis had caused the movement in the Thunder Horse rig.

"We don't know the cause, we'll have to wait for the investigation's result.

"At this time, there is no emission or any spill of hazardous substances from the platform," she said, adding: "People are not injured."

It was "too early" to say whether start-up of production would be pushed back following the incident, she noted.

Investec oil analyst Jonathan Copus said the incident likely caused the drop in BP's share price, although the sector was generally weak, with Anglo-Dutch rival Shell dipping 1.69 percent to 539.5 pence.

"If this gets delayed too far into 2006, there will be an impact on production growth next year," he warned.

Thunder Horse is 75-percent owned by BP and a quarter-held by US oil giant ExxonMobil. It was to be operational by the end of the year, with an eventual output of 250,000 barrels per day of oil and 5.7 million cubic metres of natural gas.

BP is setting up Thunder Horse, three other rigs and a pipeline development in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico as part of a 15-billion-dollar (12.3-billion-euro) investment in the area this decade.

None of BP's other oil platforms was affected by Dennis, according to a company source.

BP currently produces more than 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the area -- about 7.5 percent of the group's total daily production.

Meanwhile, Shell said in a separate statement that "no damage has been reported at any of our Shell-operated facilities".

"Production is coming back on line and ramping up. We expect to be back to almost all, if not full, pre-Hurricane Dennis production levels by Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning," it added.

Hurricane Dennis has so far claimed the lives of at least 40 people in Haiti, 16 in Cuba, five in two US states, and one in Jamaica.

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