Factbox: Developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

LONDON | Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:36am EDT

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

TOP DEVELOPMENTS

* BP's newly named chief executive, Bob Dudley, on Tuesday called the Gulf oil spill a "wake-up call" for the entire industry as the company tallied up its losses and disclosed two U.S. investigations.

* The top U.S. official overseeing the response to BP's Gulf of Mexico oil leak said on Tuesday he does not expect the company's commitment to cleaning up the spill to be diminished with its change in leadership.

POLITICS/POLICY

* U.S. Senate Democrats officially unveiled on Tuesday energy legislation to implement offshore drilling reforms and promote natural gas-powered vehicles that Democrats want the Senate to pass before lawmakers leave for their summer break next week.

* BP said U.S. markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice had launched a probe into market trading connected to the oil giant's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

* BP and British officials have "stonewalled" attempts by the U.S. Senate to examine whether the oil giant influenced the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Senator Robert Menendez said on Tuesday.

* Attorneys hoping to lead the legal fight against BP will descend on the unlikely venue of Boise, Idaho, this week as a special judicial panel considers how to bring order to a wave of spill-related lawsuits.

* Kenneth Feinberg, lawyer extraordinaire, who acquired a solid gold reputation for fixing sticky situations for the U.S. government is facing one of his toughest challenges yet: running BP's $20 billion compensation fund.

MARKET IMPACT/COMPANIES

* BP tripled second-quarter profit from refining and marketing operations due to strong margins and record high petrochemical sales, which also may help earnings figures from other major oil companies later this week.

* Protesters from environmental group Greenpeace disabled some of BP's 50 petrol stations in central London on Tuesday in protest at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

* BP shares closed down 2.63 percent in London while shares in New York ended down about 1.7 percent on Tuesday.

CAPTURE/CONTAINMENT/CLEANUP

* BP Plc could start the final procedure to kill its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico late next week despite storm-related delays, the top U.S. oil spill official said on Monday.

* Hundreds of contractors and thousands of workers are swarming over the U.S. Gulf Coast, hoping to cash in on the country's worst oil spill.

(Compiled by Alyson Zepeda in Houston, editing by Vicki Allen)

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Comments (1)
Daddyslipdisk wrote:
Having the cases heard in Boise,Idaho is not by accident. Geographically they are removed from the shores of the disaster and even removed from a coastline. The only thing more obvious would have been the upper western corner of North Dakota. This was very strategic and intentional. The citizens of Idaho don’t have much vested in the oil spill and it will be the least friction without being too obvious about their intentions.

Jul 28, 2010 2:34pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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