Factbox: Developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

(Reuters) - Here are developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the largest in U.S. history:

TOP DEVELOPMENTS

* BP Plc has reached a preliminary agreement to put $20 billion into an escrow account to pay damage claims from the spill, a source with knowledge of the process said on Wednesday.

* BP officials struck the agreement with the White House, meeting a key demand laid out by President Barack Obama. The Obama administration's "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg would oversee the fund, the source said.

* BP's preliminary agreement to put $20 billion into an escrow account does not cap the amount the company would be responsible to pay, an Obama administration official said on Wednesday.

* British Prime Minister David Cameron, under intense domestic pressure to stand up for BP, said the company is eager to face its liabilities but it should not have to pay claims that are too far removed from the disaster.

POLITICS

* Obama vowed in a nationally televised address on Tuesday night to compel BP to pay damages for its "recklessness" in the spill and sought to harness public outrage over the disaster into support for his bid to cut U.S. dependence on fossil fuels.

* U.S. lawmakers blast major oil companies for "virtually worthless" and "cookie cutter" plans to handle a deepwater oil disaster, with one top executive conceding the industry was ill-prepared to handle big offshore spills.

COMPANY/MARKETS NEWS

* BP shares are down less than 1 percent in New York. Trade has been volatile as share price earlier erased losses on reports about the escrow deal.

* Solar stocks in the United States slipped modestly in Wednesday trade as the euro stabilized against the U.S. dollar.

* German solar shares rose after Obama's speech fanned hopes for legislation in the United States that would help boost alternative energy sources in the world's largest economy.

* The moratorium on new deepwater projects in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico will cut planned spending on exploration and production projects by about $1.6 billion from previous forecasts, according to a Barclays Capital survey of oil companies.

* Pride International Inc said its profits could be dragged by any delay in employing its two drillships contracted to BP and if it fails to secure new contracts for the rigs due to the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf Of Mexico.

SPILL CONTAINMENT EFFORTS

* BP started up a second system to siphon oil from its gushing Gulf of Mexico leak early on Wednesday.

* BP also said its containment cap system installed at the leak on June 3 collected 10,440 barrels of oil on Tuesday, lower than on previous days and reflecting a five-hour shutdown after a lightning strike ignited a fire at a derrick on the drillship collecting the oil.

OIL SLICK THREAT

* A team of U.S. scientists raised their high-end estimate of the amount of oil flowing from the well by 50 percent to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day, the second major upward revision in less than a week.

* Power plants operating along the U.S. Gulf Coast have stepped up efforts to protect their facilities from the spill as its impact spreads.

* Cuba is making preparations to protect its coast.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"While it's important that they pay reasonable claims, and BP accept this themselves, they do need a level a certainty, and this is BP's worry, that there won't be claims entertained that are three or four times removed from the oil spill." -- British Prime Minister David Cameron

(Compiled by Ed Stoddard; editing by Eric Beech)