John
06-14-2010, 07:09 PM
The figure includes $350m (£239m) spent in the last week, boosted by emergency payments of $25m (£17m) each to the states of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
A total of 51,000 compensation claims have now been made against BP since the leak began - 26,500 of which it has already paid out on, costing £42m.
The firm is also spending £245m to build barrier islands off the Louisiana coast to limit the environmental damage.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is to make a statement on the latest situation to MPs this afternoon.
In a statement BP said that it was working to "protect the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico, and to collect and clean up any oil that has reached shore".
The firms board is meeting in London to discuss deferring its dividend payment until the oil spill has been contained, following intense US pressure.
Uncertainty over BP's dividend payment, which accounts for £1 in every £7 paid out to UK pension funds, has seen the company's share price plummet over recent weeks.
It is now worth nearly half what it was when the Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22, causing the oil leak.
US President Barack Obama is currently beginning a two-day visit to the Gulf Coast to view the impact of the spill.
When he returns to Washington on Tuesday evening President Obama will use his first Oval Office speech to address the catastrophe.
He will meet BP executives, including CEO Tony Hayward and chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, to discuss the crisis on Wednesday.
He is also set to order BP to establish a victims compensation fund.
Mr Hayward, who has recieved death threats and been called "the most hated man in America" over his role in the crisis, will then be questioned by Congress on Thursday.
BP's shares are currently trading down 6% in London.
A total of 51,000 compensation claims have now been made against BP since the leak began - 26,500 of which it has already paid out on, costing £42m.
The firm is also spending £245m to build barrier islands off the Louisiana coast to limit the environmental damage.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is to make a statement on the latest situation to MPs this afternoon.
In a statement BP said that it was working to "protect the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico, and to collect and clean up any oil that has reached shore".
The firms board is meeting in London to discuss deferring its dividend payment until the oil spill has been contained, following intense US pressure.
Uncertainty over BP's dividend payment, which accounts for £1 in every £7 paid out to UK pension funds, has seen the company's share price plummet over recent weeks.
It is now worth nearly half what it was when the Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22, causing the oil leak.
US President Barack Obama is currently beginning a two-day visit to the Gulf Coast to view the impact of the spill.
When he returns to Washington on Tuesday evening President Obama will use his first Oval Office speech to address the catastrophe.
He will meet BP executives, including CEO Tony Hayward and chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, to discuss the crisis on Wednesday.
He is also set to order BP to establish a victims compensation fund.
Mr Hayward, who has recieved death threats and been called "the most hated man in America" over his role in the crisis, will then be questioned by Congress on Thursday.
BP's shares are currently trading down 6% in London.