UPDATE #2: BP Agrees To $20 Billion Escrow Account
President Obama met with BP executives today after he summoned them to the White House several days ago to discuss the Gulf oil spill.
Last night during his first address to the nation from the oval office, the President promised that he would direct BP to open an escrow account to pay claims to those affected by the spill in a timely manner. According to the New York Times the meeting today has indeed provided fruit whereby BP has agreed to open a $20 billion escrow account for exactly that purpose. The fund will be reportedly run by Kenneth Feinberg who also ran the 9/11 victims compensation fund, but there are still other matters being negotiated.
Of those items not agreed upon there is the matter of the overall cleanup cost and whether or not BP will have to add to the $20 billion escrow account if the costs end up being higher than estimated. Also, there is the question as to whether or not BP will be allowed to pay out their annual dividend, as the dividend issue has become an international concern because there are many people in the UK who live off of that dividend.
UPDATE: White House adviser David Axelrod is saying that there will be no cap on how much will enter the fund.
UPDATE #2: President Obama commented on the extended 4 hour meeting with BP executives, announcing that BP had agreed to create a $20 billion escrow account without a cap to pay out claims. The fund will be supervised by Kenneth Feinberg who ran the 9/11 victims fund, independent of both BP and the U.S. government. Additionally, BP agreed to set up another account with $100 million to pay the lost wages of oil industry workers while the moratorium on offshore drilling is still in effect.
After the President spoke the Chairman of BP Carl-Henric Svanberg addressed the gathered media outside of the White House. He apologized for the disaster and directly to the American people and answered one critical question about their annual dividend saying that there would be no dividend paid out this year. Unfortunately some of what he said in his imperfect English will not translate well to the ears of some people, saying that BP cares about the "small people".
Watch the President's comments below:
Last night during his first address to the nation from the oval office, the President promised that he would direct BP to open an escrow account to pay claims to those affected by the spill in a timely manner. According to the New York Times the meeting today has indeed provided fruit whereby BP has agreed to open a $20 billion escrow account for exactly that purpose. The fund will be reportedly run by Kenneth Feinberg who also ran the 9/11 victims compensation fund, but there are still other matters being negotiated.
Of those items not agreed upon there is the matter of the overall cleanup cost and whether or not BP will have to add to the $20 billion escrow account if the costs end up being higher than estimated. Also, there is the question as to whether or not BP will be allowed to pay out their annual dividend, as the dividend issue has become an international concern because there are many people in the UK who live off of that dividend.
UPDATE: White House adviser David Axelrod is saying that there will be no cap on how much will enter the fund.
UPDATE #2: President Obama commented on the extended 4 hour meeting with BP executives, announcing that BP had agreed to create a $20 billion escrow account without a cap to pay out claims. The fund will be supervised by Kenneth Feinberg who ran the 9/11 victims fund, independent of both BP and the U.S. government. Additionally, BP agreed to set up another account with $100 million to pay the lost wages of oil industry workers while the moratorium on offshore drilling is still in effect.
After the President spoke the Chairman of BP Carl-Henric Svanberg addressed the gathered media outside of the White House. He apologized for the disaster and directly to the American people and answered one critical question about their annual dividend saying that there would be no dividend paid out this year. Unfortunately some of what he said in his imperfect English will not translate well to the ears of some people, saying that BP cares about the "small people".
Watch the President's comments below:
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