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BP's Oil Spill Costs Near $4 Billion Mark
Oil company BP says that the cost of dealing with the Gulf of Mexico spill has now reached nearly $4 billion.
The company, which last week managed to place a temporary cap on the leak, said Monday it has made payments totaling $207 million to settle individual claims for damages from the spill along the southern coast of the United States.
To date, almost 116,000 claims have been submitted and more than 67,500 payments have been made, totaling $207 million.
Including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, payment of claims and U.S. government costs, BP says it has now spent $3.95 billion.
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
The company adds that it is still too early to quantify the eventual total cost.
As the costs mount up, so does the apparent dispute between BP and the federal government about the risks associated with a new seepage of hydrocarbons or gas from the capped well.
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's spill response chief, said a seep had been detected a distance from the busted oil well, and he demanded that BP provide results of further testing of the seabed Sunday night.
Allen didn't say what was coming from the seep, and there were also concerns about bubbles escaping from the wellhead itself, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.
Oil Well Cap May Be Reopened
Pilloried for nearly three months as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP PLC capped the nearly mile-deep well Thursday and wants to keep it that way. The government's plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but would require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.
"No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said Sunday. "Right now we don't have a target to return the well to flow."
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The company, which last week managed to place a temporary cap on the leak, said Monday it has made payments totaling $207 million to settle individual claims for damages from the spill along the southern coast of the United States.
To date, almost 116,000 claims have been submitted and more than 67,500 payments have been made, totaling $207 million.
Including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, payment of claims and U.S. government costs, BP says it has now spent $3.95 billion.
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
The company adds that it is still too early to quantify the eventual total cost.
As the costs mount up, so does the apparent dispute between BP and the federal government about the risks associated with a new seepage of hydrocarbons or gas from the capped well.
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's spill response chief, said a seep had been detected a distance from the busted oil well, and he demanded that BP provide results of further testing of the seabed Sunday night.
Allen didn't say what was coming from the seep, and there were also concerns about bubbles escaping from the wellhead itself, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.
Oil Well Cap May Be Reopened
Pilloried for nearly three months as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP PLC capped the nearly mile-deep well Thursday and wants to keep it that way. The government's plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but would require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.
"No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said Sunday. "Right now we don't have a target to return the well to flow."
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(1) North Cape spill ,Rhode Island? January 1996, A total of 828,000 gallons of #2 home-heating oil? spilled into the Block Island Sound when the barge North Cape and its tug ran aground at Moonstone Beach in Rhode Island after the tug caught fire. A 250-square-mile area was affected. Shellfish, finfish and birds were most affected; an estimated 9 million lobsters were killed as a result of the spill.
(2) World Prodigy spill,Rhode Island? ? June 1989, About 290,000 gallons of #2 home-heating oil spilled into Narragansett Bay when the barge World Prodigy ran aground on Brenton Reef near Newport. The oil spread over a 120-square-mile area, taking a large toll on lobsters and other shellfish and finfish.
(3) Buzzard's Bay spill,Massachusetts? ? April 2003, Over 98,000 gallons of #6 oil? spilled into Buzzard's Bay,Massachusetts when Bouchard Transportation Co.'s Barge #120 cargo tank ruptured. The oil spill has affected 90 miles of coastline along the bay, and has shown up on beaches as far east as Block Island and Narragansett,Rhode Island. Toll is heavy on birds and shorelines.The Bouchard spill is still in litigation after eight years !
April 2010 -Gulf of Mexico - unknown amounts of oil !