By Surojit Chatterjee: Subscribe to Surojit's RSS feed
July 6, 2010 2:39 PM EDT
Embattled British energy giant BP Plc (LON.BP), hit by huge Deepwater oil spill clean-up costs, is trying to recoup some of them from its minority partners.
The energy giant has revealed to a US Senate subcommittee that it asked Anadarko and Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Company, both minority shareholders in the Deepwater well, to pay almost $400 million towards clean-up costs.
However, the two companies, which hold 25 percent and 10 percent in the well, said it's too early to conclude whether they're responsible for the accident.
While Andarko categorically said the Deepwater accident happened due to "gross negligence or wilful misconduct" by BP, Mitsui said it is studying BP's claim.
Market analysts said they're not surprising to see BP try and recoup costs from its partners.
The oil spill has already cost BP over $3.1 billion to date in terms of clean-up, contain and payout claims and grants to the states on the Gulf of Mexico that have been impacted by the oil spill.
The company has also been hit by lawsuits from people, businesses and organizations that have been impacted by the oil spill. To date, BP faces around 95,000 claims. The company has already settled more than 47,000 of them by paying out almost $147 million.
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Though the company said it is still "too early to quantify other potential costs and liabilities associated with the incident," at the insistence of US President Barack Obama, BP has also set up a $20 billion escrow fund.
The company has also acknowledged that it would be suspending dividend payments to its shareholders and is seeking to raise up to $10 billion from some asset sales to offset liabilities from the spill.
Analysts claim BP's costs could range anywhere from $30-100 billion, given the litigation and fines it's facing.
At 3.16PM (BST), shares of BP were trading up 3.03 percent at 343.40 pence on the London Stock Exchange.
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