Criticism over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP Increase Crude Oil Production

June 11, 2010 · Posted in News

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Louisiana – Britain held out under siege for BP Plc on Friday against U.S. criticism over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, while the company ramped up efforts to siphon more crude flowing out of her too. British Prime Minister David Cameron and his finance minister George Osborne highlighted the London-based company is economically important for both Britain and the United States.

The British government backing helped boost BP shares, which have been battered this week when Obama went to the criticism of society over the 53-day-old spill, the worst environmental disaster in American history.

Millions of gallons of oil poured into the Gulf since an explosion on an offshore platform 20.4 11 employees slain and torn deep sea BP well. U.S. scientists on Thursday doubled their estimate of the amount of oil flowing from the well.

BP is to capture oil from the leaking well since the installation of a system of containment, or cap, last week.

It is a second ship will move to the spill site to enable the amount of oil is the transfer of the source “at the end of June to increase,” the government-Obama point man for the disaster, Admiral Thad Allen, said.

Under the direction of American government, BP also plans to nearly double its oil capacity of the collection of mid-July. The upgraded oil collection system would siphon up to 50,000 barrels per day, Allen said.

The well will not be sealed until August, when two relief wells drilled today are due to be completed. In the meantime, an unknown quantity of oil still gushes on.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Reuters that the latest attempt by BP to catch the leaking oil spill had not made dramatically worse, removing fears of scientists that the flow of crude oil increased to 20 percent.

“The estimates of 20 percent or more wrong,” said Chu.

Obama BP officials have threatened to assume the obligations of the spill, which has caused ecological and economic disaster along the U.S. Gulf Coast increase. U.S. lawmakers have also pressed the company to its dividend to ensure it has enough cash to pay for the removal of garbage to suspend.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi U.S. House of Representatives Friday said BP should be subject to unlimited liability and the cost to pay for all damage claims for the issuance of the dividend.

BP is considered to make money for the dividend in an escrow account until the full extent of the debts of the company can be determined, the London Times reported, quoting people familiar with the situation.

He said BP had a planning board for the second quarter dividend to be discussed will be announced on July 27. A BP spokesman for Reuters, the company was considering all options but no decision had been taken.

Meanwhile, oil drilling company Transocean Ltd resolved spat with Obama over his attempt to its responsibility in the sinking of his vehicle, which caused the leakage reduction, according to court papers filed on Friday.

High-level diplomacy

British Prime Minister Cameron said Carl-Henric Svanberg President BP and expressed frustration about the damage caused by the spill, a spokesman for Cameron said.

“He (Prime Minister) said that it is in everyone’s interest that BP remains a financially strong and stable company,” said the spokesman.

Osborne, UK finance minister, said after talks with Tony Hayward, BP CEO, “The Prime Minister is also clear that we need constructive solutions and that we remember the economic value of BP brings people in Britain and America. ”

Forty percent of the shareholders of BP in the United States, the same percentage based in Britain.

Business leaders, politicians and newspapers have printed Cameron to BP to defend against Obama, whose criticism of the British company was played in the British media as Britain-bashing.

Cameron, who took office in May, is due to the Gulf of Mexico to discuss crisis with Obama in a telephone call at 11 hours GMT on Saturday.

The call will be a tough test for the two leaders. Both are under pressure to appear hard to voters at home.

Obama, criticized by some in the United States over his handling of the crisis, is striving to public anger and frustration directly from the leakage in the direction of BP.

For its part, Britain must show Cameron that he does not succumb to the pressure of the powerful ally of his country.

A spokeswoman for Cameron said the Prime Minister’s telephone conversation with Obama would be “statesmen and competent level.” A White House official played down the BP focus, says it would be just one of a number of issues raised.

BP STOCK

Shares in BP, where tens of billions of dollars in lost value since the crisis began on April 20, closed 7.2 percent in London trading, rebounding from Thursday the 13-year low, extending a rally that began in New York on Thursday.

American Depositary shares ended 3.63 per cent BP in New York on Friday.

“Perhaps people have taken heart from the fact that the political rhetoric is not just one side of the Atlantic,” said Barclays Capital analyst Lucy Haskins.

Investors seemed unfazed by the news of U.S. scientists that the well flow rate as high as 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 one million liters) per day.

The new estimates can be major financial consequences, as under the U.S. Clean Water Act, BP and others could face fines up to $ 4,300 for every barrel leaked.

With over 2 million barrels of oil already in the ocean, can mean a fine of 8.6 billion U.S. dollars at least.

BP expects the total bill for the remediation of the spill, which affected 120 miles of U.S. coastline and rich fishing grounds closed, will be $ 3 – $ 6 billion, an analyst briefed by BP said in a research note Friday.

The slick has polluted protected natural areas and barrier islands in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Tar balls have washed up on the famous white beaches of Florida. One third of the federal waters of the Gulf remain closed to fishing.

BP and all involved have trivialized this from day one. Everyone knew it was more than they are in principle and it has proved, “said Kindra Arnesen, owner of a restaurant in Venice, Louisiana, whose husband makes his living fish.

source:anp

Tags: bp oil production, gulf of mexico oil spill, London-based company, mining disaster in American