Obama tells BP to set aside an escrow account as tensions mount before meet
Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, is demanding BP pay up to $20 bn in damages as tensions between US and UK mount over the growing oil crisis.
The United States who say that BP are responsible, after a series of safety failures led to the dangerous environment in which BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded are pushing the company to the limit as BP continue to do their best to clean up the spill.
Latest reports suggest that BP have been ordered to gather a further 45,000 barrels of oil per day from the US Government when current flow rates are at 35,000.
And now Obama, who has gone public with an address - trying his best to maintain a measure of control over proceedings, as his Democratic party, face being hit by accusations of 'not doing enough' during the crisis.
"We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy." said Obama in his Oval Office address yesterday.
His rhetoric is designed to cause maximum impact, and make his intention clear before meeting with the directors of BP today.
"Tomorrow, I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness." he added.
Prime Minister David Cameron added his support but voiced concerns over how far BP could go in order to meet levels of compensation claims:
"This is BP's worry, that there won't be claims entertained that are three or four times removed from the oil spill," Mr Cameron said.
BP welcomed the statement and said it was looking forward to today's meeting "for a constructive discussion about how best to achieve these mutual goals".
The news comes analysts gave their latest comments on the saga following Fitch's downgrade yesterday.
According to Gimme-Credit analyst, Philip Adams, yesterday: "We believe that BP is capable of and committed to making full restitution for this disaster, and expect that, ultimately, economic expediency will win out over politics - Outperform."
Others such as Helen Henton of Standard Chartered Bank preferred to focus more widely on whether deep sea oil exploration is likely to survive these events:
"There is now considerable uncertainty over the future of deep water exploration, both in the US and elsewhere." she said.
The price of oil is also set to go up, according to Torbjorn Kjus, oil market analyst at DNB Nor.
"We think the long end of the market will gradually price in more of the oil spill effect," he said.
Lucy Haskins, Barclays analyst warned shareholders of rising debt ratios at the company leading to cuts in dividend, and Raymond Jones Associate warned of 49,000 job losses as BP restructures following the events of cleaning up the oil spill.
Obama perhaps summed it up by suggesting 'now is the time' to change dependcy on oil as a commodity:
"We cannot consign our children to this future," he said in his Oval Office address, "The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now."
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