BP to put $20bn in escrow for spill claims

16th Jun 2010 14:47

BP has agreed to a demand from US president Obama to put about $20bn in an escrow account to cover claims resulting from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The UK company also agreed to cancel dividend payments to its shareholders for the rest of the year.The news came after a meeting between BP executives and the US government to discuss how to clean up the oil spillage, which is thought to be leaking at a rate of about 60,000 barrels a day.The escrow fund will be overseen by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was in charge of payments to victims of the September 11 terror attacks. The US president also insisted that the $20bn to be put into escrow does not represent a cap on how much BP could have to pay."I would like to apologise to the American people on behalf of all the employees of BP. We hope we will regain the trust you had in us," chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement from outside the White House.BP released a statement ahead of today's meeting saying oil and gas is flowing through a second containment system. 'Operations continue to stabilise and optimise the performance of the second containment system,' said BP.