Obama: 'Preliminary Conversations' With BP On Claims Have Begun

14th Jun 2010 21:41

By Siobhan Hughes Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday his administration has begun "preliminary conversations" with BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) about setting up a "mechanism" to ensure that legitimate claims stemming from an ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are "dealt with justly, fairly, promptly." White House officials on Sunday said they wanted BP to put "substantial" funds into an escrow account to cover claims by Gulf Coast businesses and residents affected by the spill. That request will be central when Obama meets BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and other BP officials on Wednesday. "My hope is that by the time the chairman and I meet on Wednesday that we've made sufficient progress that we can start actually seeing the structure that would be in place," Obama said at a press conference as he traveled through the Gulf Coast region to hear first-hand about the effects of the spill on the region's economy. Tourism and commercial-fishing businesses report being hard hit as oil laps up on shore. "Things are going to return to normal," Obama assured the crowd. Though he warned that it will "take time," he said "this region that's known a lot of hardship will bounce back." Obama said it was "too early" to make an announcement about talks with BP. He said that conversations so far have been "constructive." Earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, Nev.) and members of the Democratic caucus asked BP to set aside $20 billion in a special account to be used to pay for economic damages and clean-up costs. -By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; [email protected] (Amy Schatz and Guy Chazan contributed to this article.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 14, 2010 16:41 ET (20:41 GMT)