Factbox: Developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

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

TOP DEVELOPMENTS

* A relief well that might divert the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil leak is still weeks from completion, a top U.S. official said on Wednesday, as the season's first Atlantic hurricane disrupted cleanup efforts.

BP'S COSTS

* BP said on Monday that the costs of its oil spill response effort stood at $2.65 billion up until that point.

MARKET IMPACT/COMPANIES

* BP's London-listed stock was up over five percent on Wednesday, with traders citing renewed talk that it could encourage a bid from ExxonMobil..

* The potential returns in BP shares are "very high," a leading fund manager said.

BP's shares have lost over 50 percent of their value since the oil spill started after an oil rig exploded in the Gulf.

STORM SEASON

* Hurricane Alex moved slowly in Gulf waters on Wednesday, growing stronger and likely to come ashore later in the day but sparing Mexican oil rigs and U.S. oil fields to the relief of crude markets. It has the potential to grow into a Category 2 storm on Wednesday after becoming a Category 1 Tuesday night.

OIL SPILL CAPTURE/CONTAINMENT/CLEANUP

* BP said on Wednesday that its oil-capture systems at the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico collected or burned off 25,220 barrels of oil on Tuesday.

* An undetermined amount of oil continues to billow out from under the cap and through vents on top into the sea. A team of U.S. scientists estimate that the leak is gushing up to 60,000 barrels a day.

* The United States will accept offers from a dozen countries and international agencies to help contain and clean up the spill, the State Department said.

POLITICS/POLICY

* U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Wednesday he is working hard to finalize a new offshore drilling moratorium after a federal court struck down the administration's initial six-month drilling ban.

* A U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday voted to eliminate limits on liability that oil companies would face for damages stemming from offshore spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico.

SPREADING IMPACT, REACTION

* The lucrative tourism industry in the Gulf of Mexico could be hard hit for years by the false perception that the spill has ruined all the beaches, tourism officials said.

* The mental health impacts of the BP spill will dwarf those encountered after the last major oil spill in Alaska, a sociologist who studied the Exxon Valdez disaster told Florida volunteers.

(Compiled by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Paul Simao)