BP optimistic despite oil spill clean-up costs topping £1bn
BP today said the cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil disaster had topped £1 billion but expects the latest effort to capture leaking oil to "improve over the next several days".
Shares in the oil giant, which have lost a third of their value since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig which killed 11 people on April 20, rose in a falling stock market. The shares were 9.25p higher at 442.3p.
In its latest Gulf update BP said the cost of its response so far was $1.25 billion but that does not include $360 million which it has committed to spend on building sand island barriers along the Louisiana coastline.
Protests took place along the Louisiana and Florida coasts yesterday as further oil slicks threatened wildlife and beaches.
The spill appeared to have reached Texas for the first time with dead oil-covered birds found there yesterday.
Fears are growing for the clean-up operation as the hurricane season approaches. BP said that the latest cap installed on Thursday night had allowed it to capture 10,500 barrels of oil during Saturday which most analysts reckon is slightly over half the current rate of leakage.
The statement continued: "Optimisation continues and improvement in oil collection is expected over the next several days.
"It will be a few days before an assessment can be made as to the success of this containment effort."
BP said it is now working on two additional projects to improve the current cap on the leak and the amount of oil it can recover.
US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is overseeing the US government's response to the spill, warned that the battle to contain the oil is likely to stretch into the autumn.
He said: "There will be oil out there for months to come. This is a siege across the entire Gulf. This spill is holding everybody hostage, not only economically but physically. And it has to be attacked on all fronts."
