BP: Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Response Cost Reaches $3.5B

12th Jul 2010 07:16

LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP) Monday said the cost of its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had reached $3.5 billion. The London-based company is in the process of installing a new, tight-fitting containment cap on the broken, mile-deep well that is gushing oil into the Gulf. Eventually, BP hopes to stop the leak entirely with a new relief well. "Although uncertainty still exists, the first half of August remains the current estimate of the most likely date by which the first relief well will be completed and kill operations performed," BP said. BP is working toward increasing containment capacity to 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day. These projects are anticipated to begin operations towards the end of July," BP said. On Saturday, a total of approximately 15,200 barrels of oil were collected or flared, BP said. BP has removed the more loosely fitting cap that had funneled as much as 15,000 barrels a day to a ship on the surface, reducing the total amount of oil contained. BP said almost 105,000 claims have been submitted and more than 52,000 payments have been made, totaling almost $165 million as of July 10. -By Jeffrey Sparshott, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)207 842 9347; [email protected] (Mark Long in New York contributed to this article.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 12, 2010 02:16 ET (06:16 GMT)