A new media study says shamed oil giant BP has lost close to a billion dollars in online brand value since the late-April Deepwater Horizon explosion. The study, via media firm General Sentiment, says that just since June 1, BP has lost more than $32 million a day in brand value….

[Greg Artzt, CEO of media metrics company General Sentiment] says it will cost BP a fortune to dig itself out of the hole it is in just on the media side. “At the retail level, it will affect them,” he predicts, adding that the numbers show that BP would have to do a tremendous amount of advertising merely to counterbalance the negative commentary. “And they are clearly worried about their brand; they do a lot of advertising. But look at their market cap. They won’t recover.”

And, in case anyone is looking, the firm says the estimated media value cost per gallon of the 126.3 million gallons or so of oil that has gushed into the Gulf (based on government high-ball estimates) is $6.66 per gallon. The Exxon spill was 11 million gallons.

[full story at MediaPost]

Of course, the company’s total equity as of 2009 was listed at over $100 billion, so, you know, BP isn’t really hurting yet. Maybe in another 50 or 60 months.

Anyway for those who love a good chart, happy Tuesday:

BP oil spill one-sheet via GeneralSentiment.com