BP, which is making progress with a new containment system for its ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, said today the cost of the spill had risen to about $3.5 billion.
It also said more than 52,000 payments have been made to claimants, totalling almost $165 million. About 105,000 claims had been submitted, it added.
BP said that as of July 10th, the total amount of oil collected or flared by its containment systems was about 749,100 barrels.
It also repeated details about work on a new system that is due to capture almost all the oil spewing from the blown-out well.
Yesterday, it was reported BP were in talks with US oil and gas company Apache Corporation and other companies over potential asset sales.
BP said in June it wanted to raise $10 billion from sell-offs to boost a $20 billion fund to clean up the worse oil spill in US history. It is uncertain any plans will be advanced enough to be disclosed before BP announces second-quarter earnings later this month.
The Sunday Times earlier reported that BP is in talks to sell up to $12 billion in assets to Apache. The paper said Houston-based Apache approached BP with a plan a few weeks ago and negotiations were under way on the structure of an agreement.
The Wall Street Journal said a deal with Apache could be up to $10 billion and could include stakes in BP's Alaskan oil fields. The paper also said BP is moving along two tracks - it is in talks with Apache on a package deal worth $10 billion and in talks with a number of companies on a spectrum of assets.
A BP spokesman declined to comment on market rumors or speculation. Apache also declined comment.
Reuters