BP said today it had so far spent $3.12 billion on the response effort to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, including $147 million paid out in claims to those affected by the disaster.
BP shares have lost more than half their market value since the worst US oil spill in history struck on April 20th, the result of an explosion on a drilling rig that caused a well to rupture and spew millions of gallons of crude into the sea.
Attempts to stop the flow have been unsuccessful, with BP now pinning hopes on a relief well that should be complete in August. Some oil is being captured through a pipe, while some is being burned off. BP said it collected or burned 25,195 barrels on Saturday but estimates of the total amount flowing go as high as 100,000 barrels.
Plans are being developed for additional containment capacity, the company said. Skimmer vessels have been out in force, but the hurricane season has hampered efforts and high seas were preventing most from operating.
A super tanker adapted to scoop oily water from the surface was still being tested by Coastguard officials just north of the well site, said a spokesman for TMT Shipping Offshore, which operates the vessel. TMT hopes that once the ship has passed the test it will secure a skimming contract that could enhance the total capacity of the containment operation to remove oil pollution from the water.
The impact on the Gulf of Mexico tourist industry was evident on Sunday, the 76th day of the disaster, as dozens of workers picked up tar balls along Pensacola Beach. Holidaymakers shunned Gulf of Mexico beaches tarred by the leaking well over the US Independence Day weekend.
The Sunday Telegraph reported BP was facing fresh criticism over its approach to safety as it emerged it did not use an industry standard process, known as a safety case, to assess risk at the Deepwater Horizon rig. A BP spokeswoman confirmed that it did not use the procedure, developed in Britain after the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion in 1988, at any of its US wells because it was not legally required to do so in the United States.
The Financial Times has reported that BP investors expected the company's leadership to change, possibly once the leak is capped, with both chief executive Tony Hayward and chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg at risk of losing their jobs.
A federal court last week lifted a six-month drilling ban imposed by the Obama administration. A new moratorium now being sought through the courts is expected to be more flexible and could be adjusted to allow drilling in certain subsea fields.
Reuters