BP chief 'personally devastated' over oil spill

BP's chief executive Tony Hayward has apologised for the disastrous consequences of the oil spill after facing the US president.

Earlier this week, Mr Hayward met with president Barack Obama, who had publicly criticised his actions that led to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th.

The BP chief then faced the US Congressional Committee in Washington yesterday (June 17th) for a six-hour interrogation.

During the meeting, he said: "The explosion and fire … never should have happened and I am deeply sorry that they did. When I learned that 11 people lost their lives I was personally devastated."

BP was accused of negligence over safety procedures, with congress members saying Mr Hayward "cut corners to save money and time".

The meeting came only a day after the oil company committed to create a $20 billion (£13.45 billion) claims fund over the next three and a half years, intended to satisfy legitimate claims regarding the disaster.

Posted by Joseph Hutton