Governor slams BP CEO's 'idiotic' comments

A crew picks up oil from Pensacola Beach - which promotes itself as having the 'whitest sand' in the US. Photo / AP

The Governor of Louisiana has blasted BP's CEO for making "idiotic" statements about the Gulf of Mexico oil-slick affecting his region.

Pressure bore down on BP from all sides with news that parts of the oil slick had arrived for the first time in Pensacola, Florida, where tourist brochures boast of the "world's whitest beaches".

New computer models showed the slick curling around southern Florida soon and travelling very swiftly into the Atlantic. Media outlets meanwhile showed sickening images of sea birds so drenched in oil they were barely able to move.

Early in the day top executives with BP attempted to reassure investors about the company's ability to withstand the storm. Tony Hayward, the CEO, insisted that the company still had "considerable firepower" to cover the financial fall-out from the disaster even while acknowledging that it would be "severe" and long-lasting.

In the first conference call with analysts since the April 20 explosion, BP offered no firm guidance on plans for dividend payments to shareholders. Some American political leaders have called for dividend payments to be suspended while BP addressed the needs of residents of the Gulf. The impact of such a step would be felt widely, not least in Britain where BP is cornerstone stock of millions of pension plans.

BP accounts for one seventh of all dividends paid out by blue-chip companies in Britain, much of it feeding retirement policies. A suspension of dividend payments would be felt across the UK economy.

Addressing the dividends issue, BP's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, hinted they would be paid but made no commitments. "We fully understand the importance of our dividend to our shareholders.

"Future decisions on the quarterly dividend will be made by the board, as they always have been, on the basis of the circumstances at the time. All factors will be considered and the decision taken in the long term interests of the shareholders."

After a week when he was caught out for making strikingly inappropriate remarks about the crisis - including saying "I'd like my life back" before apologising to the families of 11 rig workers who died - Mr Hayward may not have helped himself tremendously by saying to analysts that he remained "unscathed" despite being a "lightning rod". Oddest of all, he offered: "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me, or however the phrase goes."

Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana Governor, had ended a tour of smeared coastal areas when he let fly at Mr Hayward. "These are some of the most idiotic statements I have ever heard," he said. "I would wonder about trusting a multi-billion company to somebody who is making those kinds of statements." BP said last night that Mr Hayward "enjoys the full and explicit support of the board."

There was some hope for BP from its latest sea-bed operations to quell the leak. Doug Suttles, its chief operating officer, reported that following the placement overnight of a containment "top hat"' over the leak, oil was being siphoned into a ship above at the rate of 1,000 barrels a day.

While that is only a fraction of the 19,000 barrels that may be escaping from the well every day, BP hoped that the rate of flow from the cap could be significantly increased. It remains unlikely, however, that BP will be able to staunch the leaks entirely until August when n weather and notably hurricanes permitting n the company should have completed construction of two relief wells.

As much as 47 million gallons of crude may now have leached into the ocean already threatening multiple ecosystems and upending the livelihoods of coastal residents.

For Mr Obama, the BP disaster now trumps all other domestic and foreign priorities. Beset by allegations that he was disengaged from the crisis for too long, he flew down to Louisiana only a week after his last visit there. The White House also confirmed that he had postponed for a second time an overseas trip set for later this month to Indonesia and Australia.

In an interview with Larry King of CNN before leaving Washington, Mr Obama tried to deflect criticism of the federal response to the tragedy. "I am furious at this entire situation because this is an example where somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions," he said, pointing the finger of blame at BP.

But he also told Mr King that histrionics in the White House don't always help. "I would love to just spend a lot of my time venting and yelling at people, but that's not the job I was hired to do," he ventured in his usual scholarly style. "My job is to solve this problem and ultimately this isn't about me and how angry I am."

A new poll by CBS News showed 63 per cent of Americans believed that the US government has not done enough to end the crisis.

The latest simulations for how the oil might soon attach itself to the rotating loop current in the Gulf and thereafter travel around southern Florida came from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Researchers said it was "very likely" oil would thereafter feed into the Atlantic at a speed of 100 miles a day.

"It is truly a simulation, not a prediction," said Terry Wallace, principal associate director at the Laboratory. "But it shows that when you inject something into the Gulf, it is likely to have much larger consequences."

Oceanographer Synte Peacock added: "From these simulations we can say with a high degree of certainty that it is very likely sometime in the next six months that oil from this spill will get into the Atlantic. We can say that when it happens, it will be fast, much faster than anything we have seen so far."

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