British oil giant BP will speak with analysts on Friday, a spokeswoman for the company said after analysts pointed to a planned conference call as one possible reason for a spike in its battered shares.

Shares in BP were up 4 percent at 446.6 pence by 0851 GMT, outperforming a 2.1 percent higher FTSE <.FTSE> and a 3.3 percent rise for European oil and gas stocks as a whole <.SXEP>. The stock has fallen by about a third since April 20.

Analysts also pointed to halting progress in the company's latest attempt to stem the biggest oil spill in U.S. history as another potential source of cautious optimism.

People seem to be latching onto some sort of optimism the current operations are going to be successful, really, it's still very early, said Arbuthnot Securities analyst Dougie Youngson. This procedure is fundamentally very risky and it's not over yet.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Paul Hoskins)

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