Under Pressure From Govt, BP To Accelerate Claims Process

15th Jun 2010 17:10

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) on Tuesday said it has approved initial payments toward 90% of commercial large loss claims that have been filed as a result of financial impacts from the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting spill. The oil giant said accelerated payments will help ease the burden on impacted businesses by providing access to money in a short period of time. The company's statement comes as it faces escalated pressure from the U.S. government to suspend its dividend payment in the wake of the ongoing spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It was triggered by an explosion on April 20 that destroyed an oil rig, killing 11 crew workers. BP has been scrambling to cap the well and contain the spill since. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. officials threatened to take over the claims process for victims of the oil spill. Huge swaths of the Gulf of Mexico have been closed to fishing for the past eight weeks, which comes at the height of the key angling season and as businesses prepared for summer visitors. BP, meanwhile, said Tuesday that future improvements to the claims process include issuing monthly advances based on estimates for one month's business loss. Other changes include future advances that will be made for as long as legitimate financial losses relating to the incident are being incurred, and a standard formula that will be applied to calculate advances to ensure consistency. "We hope that these changes will help those whose businesses and livelihood have been hurt by the oil spill," said Darryl Willis, head of BP's claims team. To date, BP has opened 25 claims offices and issued about 25,000 claim checks totaling $63 million. By the end of the week, the company expects to have paid out $85 million inclusive of those initial large loss claims payments. To file a claim, call 1-800-440-0858 or visit www.bp.com/claims. -By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 15, 2010 12:10 ET (16:10 GMT)