Mr Marius Kloppers CEO of BHP Billiton told broadcaster CNBC that BHP Billiton was not ruling out adding cash to its all share hostile offer for rival Rio Tinto.

When asked if he would add a cash component to the three for one share offer now on the table and worth USD 177 billion Mr Kloppers said that "We can not rule out anything.”

However, Mr Kloppers said that commodity price movement has made the offer more attractive recently. He said that "Since we made our bid I think oil prices have moved up substantially, other commodity prices which we have in our portfolio moved up substantially and since we are paying with our scrip, this means that the value of our offer has effectively increased.”