BP has pledged royalties from a number of its Gulf of Mexico assets to support the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust.
The assets will form collateral towards the $20bn Trust mainly through royalties from oil and gast production in BP's Thunder Horse, Atlantis, Mad Dog, Great White and Mars, Ursa and Na Kika wells in the Gulf.
The Trust was set up by the company to pay legitimate claims as a result of the Macondo well disaster which happened in April this year. The well was finally confirmed as sealed on 19th September and the support resources are now gradually being removed from the site including the containment equipment and decontamination vessels.
To date, over 86,000 claims have been filed relating to the accident, with more than $806m already paid out in settlements by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, who have been responsible for claims handling since Augsut. Prior to that, a further $399m had been paid directly by BP for 127,000 claims.
One US Senator, Louisiana Republican David Vitter, believes that the moratorium,imposed by US President Barrack Obama, on all deepwater drilling in US waters could come to an end within a matter of weeks. However, he feared that the US Interior Department would block further development once restrictions are lifted after recent comments by a top official that it was uncertain which projects would be allowed to resume because of new compliance and safety regulations.