BP CEO: We'll Pay Oil Spill Costs

The CEO of British Petroleum said Monday that while he believes his company is not 100 percent to blame for the devastating oil spill off the Louisiana coast, it will aid businesses affected by the spill and continue efforts to stop the oil from reaching the shore.

"This is not our accident, but it's our responsibility," BP CEO Tony Hayward told CBS' "The Early Show" Monday.

BP PLC said Monday it will pay "all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs" resulting from the blown-out oil well.

In a fact sheet posted to the company's website, BP said it took responsibility for the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and says, "we will clean it up." The company says it will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims for property damage, personal injury, and commercial losses.

Meanwhile, BP was preparing a system never tried before at such depths to siphon away the geyser of crude from a blown-out well a mile under Gulf of Mexico waters. However, the plan to lower 74-ton, concrete-and-metal boxes being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a barge waiting at the surface will need at least another six to eight days to get it in place.

Hayward said his company was "absolutely focused" on not letting oil reach shore.

Crews continued to lay boom in what increasingly feels like a futile effort to slow down the spill, with all ideas to contain the flow failing so far.

Fishermen from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle got the news that more than 6,800 square miles of federal fishing areas were closed, fracturing their livelihood for at least 10 days and likely more just as the prime spring season was kicking in. The slick also was precariously close to a key shipping lane that feeds goods and materials to the interior of the U.S. by the Mississippi River.

Special Section: Gulf Coast Oil Disaster
Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts

Even if the well is shut off in a week, fishermen and wildlife officials wonder how long it will take for the Gulf to recover. Some compare it to the Hurricane Katrina that Louisiana is still recovering from after nearly five years.