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A telephone call to David Cameron eases tension amid fears that stock markets will dump oil giant's shares tomorrow

President Barack Obama moved to defuse a growing political row over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill yesterday by assuring the prime minister that he was not trying to blame Britain for the catastrophe.

In a 30-minute phone call, the US president took the extraordinary step of insisting he had not been trying to undermine the value of BP when criticising the company. He had reacted furiously to delays by BP in capping the leak, which has been described as the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Obama, who has been criticised for calling BP "British Petroleum" despite the fact the company dropped the name more than a decade ago, insisted his anger had nothing to do with national identity. In a revealing statement, Downing Street said: "President Obama said to the prime minister that his unequivocal view was that BP was a multinational global company and that frustrations about the oil spill had nothing to do with national identity. The prime minister stressed the economic importance of BP to the UK, US and other countries. The president made clear that he had no interest in undermining BP's value.

"The president and prime minister reaffirmed their confidence in the unique strength of the US-UK relationship." Government officials insisted the discussion had been amicable and the two men had even bet each other a beer over the result of the England-US World Cup encounter.

The prime minister has been under intense pressure from senior figures in his own party and parts of the press to stand up for his country and defend the British-based company. Boris Johnson, the London mayor, was among those who complained that the tone of the attacks on BP were "anti-British".

Cameron had resisted calls to respond to the attacks, instead saying he understood Obama's anger and was "frustrated and concerned about the environmental damage caused by the leak". One Tory backbencher, Douglas Carswell, said there had been an act of "environmental vandalism" and now was not the time to "wrap ourselves in the flag".

Eleven men were killed following an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Scientists have said the amount of oil gushing out of the well is far higher than previously estimated. The US Geological Survey has calculated that as many as 40,000 barrels a day could have been escaping before containment efforts were put in place. Obama, also under political pressure, reacted furiously and insisted he would have fired BP's chief executive had he employed him. Tony Hayward was criticised for saying the leak was "relatively tiny" compared to the size of the ocean.

BP shares have fallen by 40% since the explosion and could be hit again if the company decides to suspend its quarterly dividend payout. The company is the biggest dividend-payer in the UK and has been expected to pay more than £7bn over the year. Private companies, councils and public bodies have invested hundreds of billions of pounds of their pension funds into the company because it is normally considered a safe bet.

The company reiterated yesterday that no decision had been made on the dividend. Various options will be discussed at a board meeting tomorrow. Ed Miliband, the Labour leadership candidate and shadow climate change secretary, said the lesson was that the world had to be serious about weaning itself off a chronic dependence on oil. The environmental group Greenpeace had called on local authorities to reconsider the heavy reliance of their pension funds on BP in the months leading up the accident. They argued it was wrong to invest public money in the company because of its involvement in risky projects.

One of the councils that had invested most in the company was West Yorkshire, which had ploughed in 3.35%, or £197m, of its pension fund.

Charlie Kronick, senior climate advisor for Greenpeace, said the lessons of the Gulf spill were that "chasing the last drops of oil" carried huge risks and the likelihood of accidents and unreliable dividends was likely to rise.

But Ros Altmann, an expert on pensions policy, noted that all investments are fraught with danger. "If you do not 't want your pension will be at risk of BP-style or the style of the bank's disaster, buy a pig. You have to take some risks to make some returns," she said.

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