BP PLC says the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has risen to $8 billion (€6.2 billion) as it prepares to release the findings of an internal inquiry into the causes of the disaster.

BP published figures yesterday which showed that since it capped the well on July 15th, it had spent about $90 million a day, in line with the spend rate, while the well was gushing over 60,000 barrels a day into the sea.

Analysts had expected that BP’s costs to fall sharply after the well was sealed for good by drilling a relief well into the base of the blown-out well and pumping it full of concrete.

A successful effort to install a temporary cap delayed work on the relief well, which BP said yesterday was now likely to be completed by the middle of this month.

Rigs and ships at the drill site, some of which cost $1 million a day to operate, can then be stood down. “Until it’s killed for good, you can’t move the kit away,” one BP source said.

BP indicated there had been no major uptick in amounts being paid to those affected by the spill under the independent compensation system. About $3.5 million was paid out a day, broadly in line with that paid before BP handed over responsibility for administering claims. – (Reuters)