BP Provides $75M To 3 States To Fund Oil Leak Response

10th Jun 2010 20:14

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) announced it would provide grants totaling $75 million--split evenly by Alabama, Florida and Mississippi--to help the states mitigate the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The announcement came three days after the oil giant said it would make an immediate payment of $60 million to Louisiana to begin construction of barrier islands to protect that state's shore, after Gov. Bobby Jindal said the company should bankroll the project. BP is expected to make five additional $60 million payments to Louisiana. The grants for the other three states is in addition to previous $25 million block grants BP announced last month to help the states launch their spill response efforts. On May 17, BP also granted Mississippi and Alabama a $15 million tourism grant, while Florida received $25 million. The leak, now in its 52nd day, began when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig BP leased from Transocean Ltd. (RIG, RIGN.EB) exploded and sank, killing 11 workers. BP's American depositary shares have lost about half of their value since the accident with jittery investors dumping the stock as U.S. lawmakers ratcheted up demands that BP cover all costs related to the spill. Still, the company's ADS were up 10% to $32.16 in recent trading, erasing some of the previous day's 16% slump as fears eased about the company's ability to withstand the expense of the oil spill recovery. -By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480; [email protected] Order free Annual Report for BP plc Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=BP or call 1-888-301-0513 Order free Annual Report for Transocean Inc. Visit http://djnewswires.ar.wilink.com/?link=RIG or call 1-888-301-0513 (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 10, 2010 15:14 ET (19:14 GMT)