BP takes high ground with Anadarko

21st Jun 2010 07:30

Beleaguered oil giant BP said the latest bout of finger pointing with its partners on the ill fated Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico will not distract it from fulfilling its promise to clean up the spill and pay legitimate claims.Anadarko Petroleum, which owns a 25% stake in the leaking Macondo oil well, is refusing to accept responsibility for oil spill removal costs and damages, alleging that BP Exploration & Production (BPXP) was "grossly negligent" or engaged in "wilful misconduct" as operator for Mississippi Canyon, Block 252 (MC252).BP, which owns 65% of the oil well, is reportedly contemplating taking legal action against Anadarko to force it to stump up its share of the costs. BP said on Monday morning that it refuted Anadarko's allegations and reiterated its commitment to the clean up campaign and the restoration of the Gulf coast."Other parties besides BP may be responsible for costs and liabilities arising from the oil spill, and we expect those parties to live up to their obligations, but how the costs and liabilities are eventually allocated between various parties will not affect our unwavering pledge to step forward in the first instance to clean up the spill and pay all legitimate claims in an efficient and fair manner," said under fire BP chief executive Tony Hayward.All the co-owners of the leasehold interest (the third co-owner is Mitsui, with a 10% stake) previously entered into a written operating agreement under which BPXP would act as "operator" and be responsible for conducting operations in MC252. The parties agreed they would share the costs of operations, including the cost to clean up any spill resulting from drilling the MC252 exploratory well, according to their respective ownership interests in MC252.Anadarko is seeking to take advantage of a get-out clause on the grounds of what it sees as BP's gross negligence.In a separate announcement BP gave an update on its clean-up campaign in the Gulf of Mexico in which it said the cost of the response to date has been about £2bn.The company said that on 19 June a total of around 11,050 barrels of oil was collected and 25.6m cubic feet of natural gas was flared on the Discoverer Enterprise. This amount is less than recent averages because process facilities were shutdown for part of the day. In the same 24-hour period, 9,990 barrels of oil and 17.8m cubic feet of natural gas were flared on the Q4000 vessel being used to flare both oil and gas captured from the malfunctioning blow-out preventer. The total volume of oil recovered from both the lower marine riser package containment cap system and the Q4000 vessel since they became operational is about 249,500 barrels.Operations to skim oil from the surface of the water now have recovered, in total, some 558,000 barrels (23.4 million gallons) of oily liquid.The company has thus far settled more than 32,000 of the 65,000 compensation claims received, and paid out $105m in compensation.