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BP's mounting costs for capping and cleaning
up the Gulf of Mexico spill have reached $2.65 billion, it said
Monday, but the oil giant denied reports out of Russia that CEO
Tony Hayward is resigning.


      The company's expenses climbed $100 million per day over the
weekend, according to an SEC filing Monday, as engineers eyed a
tropical storm headed for the Texas-Mexico border. It was expected
to miss the oil spill area but could still generate disruptive
waves and winds.


      It was a rocky start to the week after BP PLC stock fall 6
percent Friday in New York to a 14-year low. BP has lost more than
$100 billion in market value since the deep-water drilling platform
it was operating blew up April 20, killing 11 workers and starting
the massive leak that has fouled the coastline in four states.

      British-based BP rushed to deny the report by Russia's state RIA
Novosti news agency, which said a senior Russian Cabinet official
had said Hayward was expected to resign as chief executive.


      It quoted Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, before a Moscow
meeting with Hayward on Monday, as saying that Hayward would
introduce his successor.


      "Hayward is leaving his post, he will introduce his
successor," Sechin said, according to RIA Novosti.


      BP spokeswoman Carolyn Copland in London said the report "is
definitely not correct." Sheila Williams, also in London, said,
"Tony Hayward remains chief executive."

      "They are mistaken," U.S.-based BP spokesman Mark Proegler
said of the Russian report.

      After the meeting, a spokesman for Sechin said, "The issue of
Hayward's resignation wasn't discussed." Spokesman Rustam Kozharov
said topics included the Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which
accounts for about a quarter of BP's reserves and production.


      BP shares gave up some ground in London after the Russian
report. But they were still up a fraction at $4.61. BP's U.S.
shares gained about 2.5 percent.


      Moscow-based oil analyst Konstantin Cherepanov from the Swiss
investment bank UBS said he gave little credence to reports of
Hayward's resignation.


      "I'm sure there has been a misunderstanding. Hayward's
resignation at this time and in this place lacks logic," he said.


      "It would make sense that Hayward would finish his job tackling
with the oil spill and step down afterwards so that the new CEO
wouldn't have his burden on his shoulders."


      In a filing Monday to U.S. securities regulators, BP said the
cost of its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had reached
about $2.65 billion, up from $2.35 billion as of Friday. The costs
include spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants
to Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs, but not a $20
billion fund for Gulf damages the company created this month.


      BP said it had received more than 80,000 claims and made almost
41,000 payments, totaling more than $128 million.


      The rig drilling the relief well that's the best hope of
stopping the oil spill has made it within about 20 feet
horizontally of the blown-out well that's gushing crude, BP Senior
Vice President Kent Wells said Monday.


      Wells said the rig is going to drill an additional 900 feet down
before crews cut in sideways and start pumping in heavy mud to try
to stop the flow from the damaged well. It's currently about 16,770
feet down.


      Wells says BP is moving extremely cautiously to make sure
everything is lined up correctly and the relief well is still on
target to be finished by early August. A second well is being
drilled as a backup.


      "This is the point in time we have to be very good at what
we're doing," Wells said.


      The work progressed as Tropical Storm Alex, farther southwest
over the Gulf, was forecast to strengthen and become a hurricane
Tuesday on a course for northeastern Mexico and a neighboring
stretch of Texas.


      That track is far from the oil spill off Louisiana's coast. But
the first tropical storm of what is expected to be an active
Atlantic hurricane season will still generate waves up to 15 feet
high and winds of 20 to 30 mph on its outer edges that could pound
the oil spill area, said Stacy Stewart, senior hurricane specialist
at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.


      "That could exacerbate the problem there in terms of pushing
oil further inland and also perhaps hindering operations," Stewart
said.
     

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BP's mounting costs for capping and cleaning
up the Gulf of Mexico spill have reached $2.65 billion, it said
Monday, but the oil giant denied reports out of Russia that CEO
Tony Hayward is resigning.


BP spends $2.65B on oil spill; denies CEO quitting

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