The cost of spilling oil
BP Plc’s cost of dealing with its recent oil spill disaster has risen to $8 billion, Reuters reported.
On April 20, the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig, which BP was leasing from Transocean, exploded and sank. That incident killed 11 workers and left oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months.
Today, BP published figures that showed it has spent about $90 million a day since it capped the well on July 15. That estimate was in line with the spend rate while the well was gushing more than 60,000 barrels of oil per day into the sea.
BP said work on a relief well will likely be completed in mid-September at which point a fleet of ships and rigs, some of which cost $1 million a day to operate, may stand down.
“Until it’s killed for good, you can’t move the kit away,” according to an unidentified BP source.
Since Aug. 23, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, a $20 billion fund set up by BP to compensate those affected by the spill, has paid out about $3.5 million per day.
That fund is being administered by former government pay czar Ken Feinberg.