June 21 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc fell as much as 4.2 percent in London trading as the company said the cost of its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst in U.S. history, has accelerated to reach $2 billion.
That’s about $33 million a day, compared with about $30 million reported June 14. BP has two pipes collecting oil and gas from the ocean floor to bring to the surface, and its plan to upgrade the system with the first floating riser is on schedule for completion at the end of this month, BP said in a statement in London today.
BP declined 3.9 percent to 343.40 pence as of 8:13 a.m. in London. The stock has slumped 48 percent since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20.
The Obama administration “forced” BP to take more aggressive steps to deal with the spill, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said yesterday. After BP last week agreed to set up a $20 billion fund to compensate victims, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., a minority partner in the leaking well, said it will seek to avoid paying claims because BP was “reckless.”
BP’s expenses so far include “the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs,” BP said. “It is too early to quantify other potential costs and liabilities associated with the incident.”
The company says it will be able to stop the flow of oil from the damaged well with two relief wells it started drilling in May. The first has reached about 16,000 feet, and the second has reached 10,000 feet, BP said today. Both are still on track to be completed three months after their start date, it said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Swint in London at bswint@bloomberg.net.
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