BURAS, Louisiana/London – US president Barack Obama will press BP executives this week to set up an escrow account – an account managed by a third party – to pay damage claims by individuals and businesses hurt by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
The move comes as Mr Obama, who will address the nation about the spill tomorrow night, faces questions on his handling of the disaster, which was in its 55th day. Millions of gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf since an April 20th offshore rig blast killed 11 workers and blew out the well.
Mr Obama also will call for an independent panel to administer the payments when he meets chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and other BP officials at the White House on Wednesday.
"We want to make sure that money is escrowed for the legitimate claims," White House adviser David Axelrod told NBC's Meet the Press, adding that the money would be independently administered to ensure it was disbursed in a timely fashion.
Mr Obama will today make his fourth trip to the Gulf, visiting Alabama, Mississippi and Florida for the first time since the well blew out. He will stay overnight and return tomorrow to address the nation.
“He wants to lay out the steps we’re going to take from here to get through this crisis,” Mr Axelrod said.
The New York Timeswas strongly critical of Mr Obama's leadership on the oil spill in an editorial on Sunday.
“Americans need to know that Mr Obama, whose coolness can seem like detachment, is engaged,” the newspaper wrote, noting that the spill raised questions about Mr Obama’s “competence and leadership”. Some Republican opponents questioned the logic of the president making a televised prime-time speech to the country before meeting top BP executives on Wednesday.
"That's a little surprising to me," Republican governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi told Face the Nationabout the timing of Mr Obama's speech. "If I were, as governor, trying to make sure somebody does something, I would meet with them before I went on television."
The Obama administration has delayed plans to increase offshore drilling as a result of the spill. The crisis has put Obama on the defensive and distracted his team from the domestic agenda – a new energy policy, reform of Wall Street and bolstering a struggling American economy.
The focus on America’s biggest environmental disaster comes ahead of November’s congressional elections in which the Democrats are expected to struggle to keep their majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate.
US public anger is high as the crisis nears two months and news is marked by images of polluted beaches, oil-covered birds and fishermen anxious about their precarious situation.
Democrats want Mr Obama to tap that mood to press for development of alternative energy such as solar and wind power.
The United States and Britain played down diplomatic tensions over the crisis. British foreign secretary William Hague said it was up to the British energy giant, under pressure in the United States to suspend its dividend to help pay for the damage, to decide on its payout to shareholders. A source said yesterday that the company was unlikely to cancel the dividend, valued at about $10.5 billion (€8.5 billion) annually.
“We’re considering several ideas short of eliminating the dividend,” the source said.
The options include deferring the dividend, paying it in shares or paying into a ring-fenced account until the oil spill liabilities become clearer, the source said, adding that the issue probably would not be decided this week.
Frustration over the handling of the spill has grown in the United States, with lawmakers calling on Mr Obama to take a tougher line with BP, which has lost tens of billions of dollars in market value during the 55-day crisis.
Senior British officials, however, have tried to bolster BP, warning about the economic impact of destabilising a company that is a staple holding of British pension funds.
President Obama told British prime minister David Cameron on Saturday that he had no interest in undermining the value of BP. In a 30-minute phone call the two leaders played down tensions over the oil spill and reaffirmed close ties.
Asked if controversy in Britain over US criticism of company was now at an end, Mr Hague told the BBC: “Yes I think so. Relations between the UK and US are excellent. There are almost as many American shareholders of BP as there are British shareholders.”
BP expects its cost for the Gulf oil clean-up to be $3 billion to $6 billion. Many analysts expect a higher cost. – (Reuters)