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BP's Gulf oil spill cleanup price tag now tops $3 billion
The massive Gulf oil spill has already cost BP more than $3 billion in cleanup, accoring to a company press release Monday.
The tab includes the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs.
Nearly 95,000 claims have been submitted and more than 47,000 payments have been made, totalling almost $147 million, according to BP.
The company also gave an update on the relief wells; one began drilling on May 2 and the second began on May 16. The three-month completion target still holds.
About 44,500 personnel, more than 6,563 vessels and some 113 aircraft are now engaged in the response effort, and nearly 550 miles of containment boom has been deployed in an effort to keep oil from reaching the coastline.
The cost doesn't include the $20 billion BP agreed to put in an escrow fund for claims at the urging of the White House.
