BP has paid $104 million to residents along the Gulf Coast for claims filed as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the company reported in a press release.
“Our focus has been on getting money into the hands of fishermen, shrimpers, condo owners and others who have not been able to earn income due to the spill,” said Darryl Willis, of the BP claims team. “We have also been addressing the larger, more complex claims and have been successful in sending more checks to commercial entities.”
BP has received about 64,000 claims to date and has issued more than 31,000 checks in the past seven weeks.
A 1,000-member claim team is working around the clock to receive and process claims. There are 33 field offices set up in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and BP is accepting calls through an 800 number as well as accepting applications online. BP has received about 84,000 calls on the claims alone.
The average time from filing a claim to checks being issued is four days for individuals and seven days for more complex business claims that have provided supporting documentation. Willis said BP’s commitment is to move expeditiously and fairly to meet the needs of the residents of the Gulf Coast.
In other BP news, the company reiterated its pledge to clean up the oil and gas spill in the Gulf of Mexico and to pay all legitimate claims arising from the spill, as another party is disputing its responsibility for costs associated with the Deepwater Horizon incident and the resulting spill.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has announced it won’t to accept responsibility for oil spill removal costs and damages, claiming that, under an exception to a joint operating agreement’s cost and liability sharing provisions, BP Exploration & Production Inc. was “grossly negligent” or engaged in “willful misconduct” as operator for Mississippi Canyon, Block 252 (MC252), according to a press release by BP. BP said it strongly disagrees with these allegations and will not allow the allegations to diminish its commitment to the Gulf Coast region.
“These allegations will neither distract the company’s focus on stopping the leak nor alter our commitment to restore the Gulf coast,” said BP’s CEO Tony Hayward. “Other parties besides BP may be responsible for costs and liabilities arising from the oil spill, and we expect those parties to live up to their obligations. But how the costs and liabilities are eventually allocated between various parties will not affect our unwavering pledge to step forward in the first instance to clean up the spill and pay all legitimate claims in an efficient and fair manner.”
