Officials Ask BP to Assure It Will Cover Spill Claims

Officials Ask BP to Assure It Will Cover Spill Claims
By SHAILA DEWAN
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: May 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/us/16spill.html?th&emc=th


ROBERT, La. — As BP’s experimental efforts to reduce the flow of oil spewing from disabled well in the Gulf of Mexico met another obstacle, the Obama administration sought assurances from BP that it would not attempt to limit its liability to the $75 million prescribed by law.

In a letter sent Friday to Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive officer, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano cited statements by BP officials that the company would pay all legitimate claims and that the company considered the $75 million cap “irrelevant.”

“Based on these statements, we understand that BP will not in any way seek to rely on the potential $75 million statutory cap to refuse to provide compensation to any individuals or others harmed by the oil spill, even if more than $75 million is required to provide full compensation to all claimants, and BP will not seek reimbursement from the American taxpayers, the United States government or the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for any amount,” the two cabinet members wrote in their letter, which was made public on Saturday.

“In the event that our understanding is inaccurate, we request immediate public clarification of BP’s true intentions,” they wrote.

Mark Proegler, a BP spokesman, said: “What Secretary Salazar and Napolitano are requesting is consistent with all our public statements on the matter. We will respond in due course.”

BP continued its efforts to insert a tube, meant to intercept the flow of oil, into the broken drill pipe using robotic submarines. But the initial attempt Friday night to connect the mile-long pipe leading from the drill ship to the tube failed, and the device had to be brought back to the surface for adjustments, said Doug Suttles, the chief operating officer of BP.

“This tool sits in a metal frame so that the drill pipe lowered from the Discover Enterprise, the drill ship, can connect to it,” he said. “When they attempted to connect to it, the frame had shifted so they were unable to make that connection.”

The problem arose before any attempt was made to insert the tube, which is fitted with rubber diaphragms to block water from entering the drill pipe.

“We hope to have that tube inserted by sometime late tonight,” Mr. Suttles said.

BP still has an array of untested short-term options for reducing the flow, including a small “top hat” that could be placed over the leak, a “junk shot” that would involve plugging the blowout preventer at the well’s opening with debris like old tires, and a “top kill” that would pump mud and cement into the preventer in an attempt to seal the opening.

The long-term solution, already under way, is to drill two relief wells, a process that will not be completed until August, officials said.