By Jeffrey Jones
BURAS, La., June 19 (Reuters) - Residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast battled to save their beaches on Saturday as tar balls washed ashore at Panama City, the most easterly point in Florida where oil has been found from BP Plc's ruptured deep-sea well.
BP also restarted its effort to siphon oil spewing from the well in the Gulf of Mexico after the system was shut down for 10 hours to fix a problem with its fire-prevention equipment and to let a storm pass.
To try to minimize the leak's impact, the British energy giant is containing some of the oil as it gushes from well on the sea floor.
The system has been 'building up to stable rates since' it was restarted, BP said in a statement. A second siphoning system is also running.
Word of the latest problem in controlling the leak -- which has caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history -- came after Anadarko Petroleum Corp, part owner of the well, accused BP of 'reckless' conduct leading up to the accident.
Sixty-one days after a BP offshore oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, the encroaching oil spill is threatening the coastal economies of four U.S. states including Louisiana, whose fragile wetlands have been hardest hit.
In Florida, the Bay County Emergency Operations Center confirmed that tar balls washed onto the beach Panama City, a popular tourist destination, and crews were cleaning them up.
'I was out on the water the other day and it was just horrible. It was all over the place. They've got about a 40 mile (64 km) slick and about a mile wide just a couple of miles off shore,' said Danny Proctor, of Destin, Florida, another seaside resort.
BP said its systems captured 24,500 barrels of oil out of a capacity of 28,000 barrels a day before the shutdown and it hoped to restart the system after a lightning storm passes.
Anadarko, the owner of a quarter of the ruptured well, has pinned the blame -- and the financial responsibility -- squarely on BP.
'There appears to be gross negligence or willful misconduct,' Houston-based Anadarko Chairman and CEO Jim Hackett said in an interview that helped to drive his company's shares up 2.2 percent in after-hours trading on the hopes it could avoid multibillion-dollar liabilities.
BP said it 'strongly disagrees' with the accusation of gross negligence but would keep focusing on the oil spill and is working with federal, state and local authorities to try to protect the coastline.
So far, Louisiana's wetlands and its fishing industry have been hardest hit by the spill, but Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida's coast have also been affected.
Leroy Jones, a sixth-generation oysterman in the south Lousiana fishing port of Buras, said he worries his way of life could be lost as marshes that feed the oyster beds are contaminated.
'It's wild .... It feels like 100 pounds of stress is added every day,' he said as he painted his boat instead of fishing. On the job, he makes as much as $1,700 a day from oysters. Compensation checks from BP are a fraction of that.
The new federal administrator of a fund to pay for damages, Kenneth Feinberg, said it would be a 'horror' if BP went bankrupt, but the $20 billion fund agreed to by BP under pressure from the White House could be increased if it proves insufficient.
President Barack Obama has seen his popularity slip over his handling of the spill and lawmakers in Washington used congressional hearings with BP to gather ammunition ahead of November elections.
BP's chief executive Tony Hayward was conspicuously absent from a gathering of global oil industry leaders on Saturday in St Petersburg, Russia, where his company's woes were a constant topic of discussion.
FISHING INDUSTRY
Residents and local officials see costs skyrocketing with the crippling of the multibillion dollar Gulf fishing industry, a deep water oil drilling moratorium and growing environmental destruction along the coast.
'I think it's going to go over $100 billion,' said Brian Miguez, a food service salesman from New Orleans, at his vacation property in Grand Isle, Louisiana, where the spill has forced the closure and cleanup of six miles of sandy beach.
'They haven't even felt the wrath of the lawsuits that are going to come in,' he said.
BP is seeking up to $7 billion in loans from seven banks, banking sources told Reuters. The sources said BP may offer up to $10 billion in debt as early as next week.
Its debt is now trading at junk levels, and Moody's has cut its rating three notches on concerns about spill liabilities. Moments after Anadarko said BP would have to pay all claims,
After falling 6.8 percent in a volatile week driven by Washington politics, BP's shares are down 26 percent so far in June, their worst month since the October 1987 market crash.
The first of a pair of relief wells meant to stop the oil flow in August is within 200 feet (61 meters) of the side of the blown well, said Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production. But it must be drilled farther before it can intersect with the blown well.
BP is capturing record amounts of crude but Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said 35,000 barrels a day, and possibly as much as 60,000 barrels, are pouring from the well, which exploded on April 20 killing 11 workers.
(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston, Vladimir Soldatkin in Russia, Jane Ross and Robert Green in Florida)
(Writing by Matthew Bigg, editing by Christopher Wilson) Keywords: OIL SPILL/ (matt.bigg@thomsonreuters.com; +1 404 720-2891; Reuters Messaging: matt.bigg.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.
BURAS, La., June 19 (Reuters) - Residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast battled to save their beaches on Saturday as tar balls washed ashore at Panama City, the most easterly point in Florida where oil has been found from BP Plc's ruptured deep-sea well.
BP also restarted its effort to siphon oil spewing from the well in the Gulf of Mexico after the system was shut down for 10 hours to fix a problem with its fire-prevention equipment and to let a storm pass.
To try to minimize the leak's impact, the British energy giant is containing some of the oil as it gushes from well on the sea floor.
The system has been 'building up to stable rates since' it was restarted, BP said in a statement. A second siphoning system is also running.
Word of the latest problem in controlling the leak -- which has caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history -- came after Anadarko Petroleum Corp, part owner of the well, accused BP of 'reckless' conduct leading up to the accident.
Sixty-one days after a BP offshore oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, the encroaching oil spill is threatening the coastal economies of four U.S. states including Louisiana, whose fragile wetlands have been hardest hit.
In Florida, the Bay County Emergency Operations Center confirmed that tar balls washed onto the beach Panama City, a popular tourist destination, and crews were cleaning them up.
'I was out on the water the other day and it was just horrible. It was all over the place. They've got about a 40 mile (64 km) slick and about a mile wide just a couple of miles off shore,' said Danny Proctor, of Destin, Florida, another seaside resort.
BP said its systems captured 24,500 barrels of oil out of a capacity of 28,000 barrels a day before the shutdown and it hoped to restart the system after a lightning storm passes.
Anadarko, the owner of a quarter of the ruptured well, has pinned the blame -- and the financial responsibility -- squarely on BP.
'There appears to be gross negligence or willful misconduct,' Houston-based Anadarko Chairman and CEO Jim Hackett said in an interview that helped to drive his company's shares up 2.2 percent in after-hours trading on the hopes it could avoid multibillion-dollar liabilities.
BP said it 'strongly disagrees' with the accusation of gross negligence but would keep focusing on the oil spill and is working with federal, state and local authorities to try to protect the coastline.
So far, Louisiana's wetlands and its fishing industry have been hardest hit by the spill, but Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida's coast have also been affected.
Leroy Jones, a sixth-generation oysterman in the south Lousiana fishing port of Buras, said he worries his way of life could be lost as marshes that feed the oyster beds are contaminated.
'It's wild .... It feels like 100 pounds of stress is added every day,' he said as he painted his boat instead of fishing. On the job, he makes as much as $1,700 a day from oysters. Compensation checks from BP are a fraction of that.
The new federal administrator of a fund to pay for damages, Kenneth Feinberg, said it would be a 'horror' if BP went bankrupt, but the $20 billion fund agreed to by BP under pressure from the White House could be increased if it proves insufficient.
President Barack Obama has seen his popularity slip over his handling of the spill and lawmakers in Washington used congressional hearings with BP to gather ammunition ahead of November elections.
BP's chief executive Tony Hayward was conspicuously absent from a gathering of global oil industry leaders on Saturday in St Petersburg, Russia, where his company's woes were a constant topic of discussion.
FISHING INDUSTRY
Residents and local officials see costs skyrocketing with the crippling of the multibillion dollar Gulf fishing industry, a deep water oil drilling moratorium and growing environmental destruction along the coast.
'I think it's going to go over $100 billion,' said Brian Miguez, a food service salesman from New Orleans, at his vacation property in Grand Isle, Louisiana, where the spill has forced the closure and cleanup of six miles of sandy beach.
'They haven't even felt the wrath of the lawsuits that are going to come in,' he said.
BP is seeking up to $7 billion in loans from seven banks, banking sources told Reuters. The sources said BP may offer up to $10 billion in debt as early as next week.
Its debt is now trading at junk levels, and Moody's has cut its rating three notches on concerns about spill liabilities. Moments after Anadarko said BP would have to pay all claims,
After falling 6.8 percent in a volatile week driven by Washington politics, BP's shares are down 26 percent so far in June, their worst month since the October 1987 market crash.
The first of a pair of relief wells meant to stop the oil flow in August is within 200 feet (61 meters) of the side of the blown well, said Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production. But it must be drilled farther before it can intersect with the blown well.
BP is capturing record amounts of crude but Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said 35,000 barrels a day, and possibly as much as 60,000 barrels, are pouring from the well, which exploded on April 20 killing 11 workers.
(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston, Vladimir Soldatkin in Russia, Jane Ross and Robert Green in Florida)
(Writing by Matthew Bigg, editing by Christopher Wilson) Keywords: OIL SPILL/ (matt.bigg@thomsonreuters.com; +1 404 720-2891; Reuters Messaging: matt.bigg.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.