BP to Suspend Dividend and Set Up Fund for Oil Spill Claims

BP to Suspend Dividend and Set Up Fund for Oil Spill Claims

By JACKIE CALMES and HELENE COOPER
Published: June 16, 2010

WASHINGTON — The White House and BP agreed on Wednesday that the oil giant would create an independent $20 billion fund to pay claims arising from the worst oil spill in American history.

Bowing to pressure from the Obama administration, the company also said it would suspend paying dividends to its shareholders for the rest of the year and would compensate oilfield workers for lost wages.

The $20 billion compensation fund will be independently run by Kenneth Feinberg, the mediator who oversaw the 9/11 victims compensation fund. .

President Obama announced the agreement to reporters at the White House Wednesday afternoon, after he and his top advisers met in the morning with BP’s top executives and lawyers to finalize the agreement. After the president’s remarks, the chairman of BP, Carl-Henric Svanberg, announced the dividend suspension. Mr. Svanberg apologized “to the American people” for the disaster and said that BP would “look after the people affected, and we will repair the damage to this region and the economy.”

Separately from the $20 billion fund, BP agreed to set aside $100 million to compensate oilfield workers who have been idled by the moratorium on deepwater drilling, which the administration imposed after the explosion and fire April 20 that destroyed a BP drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico and led to the spill. The company initially resisted compensating those workers because the moratorium was not its decision.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/us/politics/17obama.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

will not come out ahead ....somehow, someway, someday.

AND all the BP shareholders..are going to just raise the biggest stick ever about this.

You can't comment on good news except by being negative.

Very good example.

it may look like the WH has no control over this thing but they are obviously kicking BP's ass! Of course, the media and many anti-Obama people here on DU will not see it that way :-(

Obama had exactly zero authority in law to do this, BP had every legal reason not to. and he basically just said "this is what you are going to do" and they said "yes, sir." remarkable.

... a number of folks told me it wouldn't happen.

And there it is.

I wanted the president to do both these things (stop the dividends and get an escrowed fund set up for claimants), and having done so, I'm giving him a big thumbs up.

It's obviously all financial relief, not ecological relief. But a great step into mitigating some of the effects of BP's failure to maintain a "safe" operation. I hope residents of the Gulf Coast states take up this opportunity ASAP, to protect their investments, at least in the short term.

And the suspension of dividends will resonate among shareholders in the company.

I'm very pleased. I wasn't sure the president was really going to lean on BP enough to get these two items.

Good for him!

And I'm pretty pleased at some concrete steps. Even my best friend, a former resident of FL and *very* critical of the Administration's actions to date, called to give me a heads up on the agreement. She "gets" the difference between the ability to hold BP accountable and the ability to stop the collapse of the well site. Was really glad to hear this latest.

These are two big achievements, and I give the president his props for this.

These are only two measures, but they are important right now.

Would not fly, and shouldn't.

It would have been outrageous for BP to pay stockholders dividends while the victims of this gusher watch their coastal regions collapse economically.

I bashed Obama about this from back in April. I'll give him credit now for getting something tangible done.

Of course, the funds will actually flow much slower than that, but several billion will be available soon.

:thumbsup:

A solid step in the right direction, I think.

and the proceeds added to the fund
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SYMANTEC CORP COM 871503108 3,213 190,000 SH DEFINED 01 190,000
SYSCO CORP COM 871829107 2,478 84,000 SH DEFINED 01 84,000
T ROWE PRICE GROUP INC COM 74144T108 2,472 45,000 SH DEFINED 01 45,000
TAIWAN GTR CHINA FD COM 874037104 361 57,103 SH DEFINED 01 57,103
TARGET CORP COM 87612E106 5,417 103,000 SH DEFINED 01 103,000
TELE NORTE LESTE PARTICIP ADR 879246106 273 15,500 SH DEFINED 01 15,500
TELEFONOS DE MEXICO S A ADR 879403707 1,456 95,000 SH DEFINED 01 95,000
TELEFONOS DE MEXICO S A ADR 879403780 1,807 116,000 SH DEFINED 01 116,000
TELEMEX INTERNATIONAL ADR 879690105 2,236 116,000 SH DEFINED 01 116,000
TELMEX INTERNACIONAL ADR 879690204 1,796 95,000 SH DEFINED 01 95,000
TENET HEALTHCARE CORP COM 88033G100 1,999 350,000 SH DEFINED 01 350,000
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC COM 882508104 4,281 175,000 SH DEFINED 01 175,000
THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC COM 883556102 3,033 59,000 SH DEFINED 01 59,000
TIFFANY + CO COM 886547108 902 19,000 SH DEFINED 01 19,000
TIME WARNER CABLE COM 88732J207 2,214 41,536 SH DEFINED 01 41,536
TIME WARNER INC COM 887317303 5,200 166,333 SH DEFINED 01 166,333
TJX COMPANIES INC COM 872540109 3,614 85,000 SH DEFINED 01 85,000
TRAVELERS COS INC/THE COM 89417E109 5,771 107,000 SH DEFINED 01 107,000
UNION PACIFIC CORP COM 907818108 5,864 80,000 SH DEFINED 01 80,000
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE COM 911312106 8,889 138,000 SH DEFINED 01 138,000
UNITED STATES STEEL CORP COM 912909108 3,176 50,000 SH DEFINED 01 50,000
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP COM 913017109 9,422 128,000 SH DEFINED 01 128,000
UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC COM 91324P102 6,142 188,000 SH DEFINED 01 188,000
UNUM GROUP COM 91529Y106 1,114 45,000 SH DEFINED 01 45,000
US BANCORP COM 902973304 8,837 342,000 SH DEFINED 01 342,000
VALE SA ADR 91912E105 5,305 165,000 SH DEFINED 01 165,000
VALERO ENERGY CORP COM 91913Y100 1,950 99,000 SH DEFINED 01 99,000
VERISIGN INC COM 92343E102 754 29,000 SH DEFINED 01 29,000
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS COM 92343V104 12,098 390,000 SH DEFINED 01 390,000
VF CORP COM 918204108 1,603 20,000 SH DEFINED 01 20,000
VIACOM INC CLASS B COM 92553P201 2,989 87,000 SH DEFINED 01 87,000
VISA INC CLASS A SHARES COM 92826C839 6,463 71,000 SH DEFINED 01 71,000
WAL MART STORES INC COM 931142103 17,848 321,000 SH DEFINED 01 321,000
WALGREEN CO COM 931422109 5,117 138,000 SH DEFINED 01 138,000
WALT DISNEY CO/THE COM 254687106 11,276 323,000 SH DEFINED 01 323,000
WASTE MANAGEMENT INC COM 94106L109 3,474 101,000 SH DEFINED 01 101,000
WATERS CORP COM 941848103 1,012 15,000 SH DEFINED 01 15,000
WELLPOINT INC COM 94973V107 5,150 80,000 SH DEFINED 01 80,000
WELLS FARGO + CO COM 949746101 21,601 695,000 SH DEFINED 01 695,000
WESTERN DIGITAL CORP COM 958102105 2,532 65,000 SH DEFINED 01 65,000
WESTERN UNION CO COM 959802109 1,730 102,000 SH DEFINED 01 102,000
WEYERHAEUSER CO COM 962166104 1,403 31,000 SH DEFINED 01 31,000
WHIRLPOOL CORP COM 963320106 959 11,000 SH DEFINED 01 11,000
WILLIAMS COS INC COM 969457100 2,703 117,000 SH DEFINED 01 117,000
WISCONSIN ENERGY CORP COM 976657106 840 17,000 SH DEFINED 01 17,000
WW GRAINGER INC COM 384802104 2,487 23,000 SH DEFINED 01 23,000
XEROX CORP COM 984121103 3,989 410,000 SH DEFINED 01 410,000
XILINX INC COM 983919101 994 39,000 SH DEFINED 01 39,000
XL CAPITAL LTD CLASS A COM G98255105 1,888 100,000 SH DEFINED 01 100,000
YAHOO INC COM 984332106 4,460 270,000 SH DEFINED 01 270,000
YUM BRANDS INC COM 988498101 2,491 65,000 SH DEFINED 01 65,000

The Energy and Climate Change bill awaits the approval of Feinstein and a few other Democrats.

:mad:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8576418&mesg_id=8576530

:patriot:

If this is so critical to their lives, why weren't they, as stockholders, pushing the Board of Directors and the company management to ensure everything was being done safely?

Why as owners of the company, did they not insist on the least risky business practices?

They didn't think about, or care about it. They were happy to take the extra profits from doing things cheaply and quickly.