The Wall St. Journal had more complete coverage of the Nomura statement than the link provided above did. It said in part:
"Investors' fears were stoked by a research note from analysts at Nomura Holdings Inc. in London saying BP may need to sell shares to assure counterparties it has the financial wherewithal to absorb costs related to the spill.
Nomura analyst Alastair Syme said BP had enough liquidity to deal with the clean-up costs and the phased funding of the escrow account, but it may struggle if liabilities from the spill were to rise, for example due to hurricane damage, or if oil prices fall. He said BP's options are constrained because issuing debt has become expensive and selling off assets takes time.
But the need to raise funds is pressing, one reason BP has made moves to augment its cash and available credit. Mr. Syme said BP has an estimated "$2 billion to $2.5 billion of one-year commercial paper to roll over, needed to fund day-to-day trading activities and working capital, which will likely be much harder (and more expensive) to do in this environment." BP said it does not comment on its financial arrangements.
BP and its advisers had been considering a large bond sale to shore up the company's finances, but have shelved the plan for now, other people familiar with the matter said. Nomura's Mr. Syme wrote that BP could raise equity-linked financing in the near term, perhaps from a Sovereign Wealth Fund. However, doing so at such a depressed share price might make current shareholders uneasy, since they could face large dilution, depending on how much money BP needs to raise. Indeed, one of the people said BP has no imminent plans to do an equity or a bond deal."