LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Oil major BP believes it may be heading for a showdown with the White House over ever- increasing demands that it cover costs related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP source said on Wednesday.
'At some point a line has to be drawn,' the source said.
Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a Senate hearing he would ask BP to repay the salaries of any workers laid off because of the six-month moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling imposed by the U.S. government after the spill.
BP has said it will pay for the clean-up and direct damages to those affected by the spill, such as fisherman. But the source said the moratorium was a government decision, and so the costs related to it were a different matter.
The company declined comment.
Salazar's comments helped push BP's New York-listed American Depositary Receipts down 15 percent on Wednesday. Keywords: OIL RIG/BP SHOWDOWN (Reporting by Tom Bergin, +44 207 542 1029, tom.bergin@reuters.com, Reuters Messaging tom.bergin.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'At some point a line has to be drawn,' the source said.
Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a Senate hearing he would ask BP to repay the salaries of any workers laid off because of the six-month moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling imposed by the U.S. government after the spill.
BP has said it will pay for the clean-up and direct damages to those affected by the spill, such as fisherman. But the source said the moratorium was a government decision, and so the costs related to it were a different matter.
The company declined comment.
Salazar's comments helped push BP's New York-listed American Depositary Receipts down 15 percent on Wednesday. Keywords: OIL RIG/BP SHOWDOWN (Reporting by Tom Bergin, +44 207 542 1029, tom.bergin@reuters.com, Reuters Messaging tom.bergin.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.