Gulf clean-up costs hit $6bn

$6 billion spent so far

The spill may have finally been sealed, but the clean-up continues and this weekend the cost hit $6 billion. However, with locals complaining that oil is still prevalent, despite a government report that said 75 percent of the oil had been cleaned up, it is clear that a lot of work is still needed.

The report that Infrastructure US commented on last week has been met with alarm by Gulf Coast residents who fear that the government report will lead to a general consensus that the worst is over and that political and media attention will fade.

Last week, White House energy adviser Carol Browner said that only a quarter of the leaked oil posed any further danger to the US environment and coastal communities, claiming that the majority of the oil had "either been captured, burned off, or evaporated."

The news came hours after BP announced that its ‘Static Kill' procedure to finally seal the leaking oil well had been successful, ending almost three months of oil spilling into the ocean since the DeepHorizon oil rig caught fire and sunk.

However local residents say that oil is still present and risks crippling the coastal communities who depend on industries like fishing to survive.

Clean-up costs

BP has said that they will do whatever it takes to clean up the oil spill and thus far, the expenditure of $6 billion has gone into the spill response, containment, relief well drilling and cementing up of the damaged well as well as grants to the Gulf states hit by the spill.

Thus far, the oil giant has also paid out $319 million in compensation to some of those affected by the spill, but reports indicate there are still many more waiting.

Although the oil has stopped, there are currently 30,800 people working on the clean-up response. During the 87 days that oil leaked into the Gulf, it is estimated that the total amount of oil spilled totaled 4.9 million barrels.

Relevant articles:

Three quarters of BP oil spill cleaned up | Static Kill to seal Gulf oil well | BP oil spill cost is $32.2 billion | Gulf clean-up hampered by storm

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