BP Oil Spill Cleanup Resumes After Hurricane Alex

Costs related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have cost BP $3.12 billion to date, the global oil corporation said Monday in the wake of delays caused by Hurricane Alex. Costs include spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to Gulf coast states, claims paid, and federal costs. Almost 95,000 claims have been submitted and more than 47,000 payments have been made, totaling almost $147 million, BP says.

“Work continues to collect and disperse oil that has reached the surface of the sea, to protect the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico, and to collect and clean up any oil that has reached shore.

Approximately 44,500 personnel, more than 6,563 vessels and some 113 aircraft are now engaged in the response effort.

Operations to skim oil from the surface of the water were temporarily placed on hold for approximately three days because of the effects of Hurricane Alex. To date, these operations have recovered, in total, approximately 673,497 barrels (23.5 million gallons) of oily liquid. In addition, a total of 275 controlled burns have been carried out to date, removing an estimated 238,000 barrels of oil from the sea’s surface,”

BP said in a statement.