Obama Vows To Make BP Accountable For Oil Spill Damage

16th Jun 2010 12:49

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Barack Obama was to meet with senior BP Plc (BP) officials for the first time on Wednesday, a day after vowing to make the firm pay for the "recklessness" that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Obama has summoned BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg to the White House for talks at 10:15 a.m. (1415 GMT), with BP chief executive Tony Hayward also expected to attend. The meeting comes a day after Obama's debut Oval Office address, in which he sought to reassure Americans he was in control of the unfolding ecological disaster and pledged to hold BP accountable. Obama said he would order Svanberg to accept the creation of an independently controlled escrow account to compensate "the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness." In reaction, BP said: "We share the president's goal of shutting off the well as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast." (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 16, 2010 07:49 ET (11:49 GMT)