BP puts Gulf oil spill cost at nearly $4 billion

News Paper: DAWN
Monday, 19 Jul, 2010

In this image taken from video provided by BP PLC the containment stack is shown at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday. – AP Photo

LONDON: Oil company BP says that the cost of dealing with the Gulf of Mexico spill has now reached nearly $4 billion.

The company, which last week managed to place a temporary cap on the leak, said Monday it has made payments totaling $207 million to settle individual claims for damages from the spill along the southern coast of the United States.

To date, almost 116,000 claims have been submitted and more than 67,500 payments have been made, totaling $207 million.

Including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, payment of claims and U.S. government costs, BP says it has now spent $3.95 billion.

The company adds that it is still too early to quantify the eventual total cost.

-www.dawn.com