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BP clean-up costs for oil spill hit $3.1bn

05 July 2010 13:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA. BP, the oil company struggling to cap a leaking well which has caused the biggest oil spill in US history, said the cost of the clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico oil has hit $3.12bn (Â£2bn), Telegraph.co.uk reported.

Almost 95,000 claims for damages from fishermen and other businesses affected by the disaster have been submitted, the company said in an update on Monday.

So far, more than 47,000 payments have been made, totalling almost $147m.

The rest of the $3.1bn costs are for the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, and federal costs.

The two containment systems being used at the leaking well 5,000 ft below sea level have collected around 585,400 barrels of oil to date.

Work on the first relief well - started on May 2, days after an explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon rig sank following an explosion that killed 11 works and breached the wellhead - reached a depth of 17,725ft on Sunday. The second relief well, which started May 16, has now reached a depth of 13,871ft.

The first relief well is expected to intersect the leaking well in August. The aim will be to pump heavy liquid into the flowing well to bring it under control. Once the flow is stopped, cement is pumped into the well to completely plug it.