Pointed to unanimously, the British oil giant BP, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon has exploded a week ago off the Gulf of Mexico must manage a crisis of unprecedented magnitude in the unfortunate history of oil spills .

While the huge oil slick button that Friday the odds of a Louisiana still traumatized by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Barack Obama has sent two of his ministers on the spot "to ensure that BP and the government are doing everything they can, not just respond to this incident, but also to determine the causes. " The president has promised am?riain mobilize all the resources "of the country, including the military.

Enormous resources implemented

The flow of oil leaking from offshore wells was revealed on Thursday five times higher than previously thought, or 5,000 barrels per day, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).And the damaged area has been classified as difficult to access for effective cleaning.

For the moment, "the consequences of the accident remain unclear and can not yet be quantified, but BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cleanup operations, analysts said. But the anti-spill operation implemented by the American state and the group is described by BP itself as "the largest in history."

The company has already implemented substantial resources (two drilling platforms, 32 boats, five helicopters, 1,000 persons, etc.). The U.S. Navy has provided seven booms and pumping systems for coastguards. Air assets are also mobilized.

After several failed missions carried out using robotic devices to help fill the leak, BP and the Coast Guard decided Wednesday to carry out "controlled burning" to limit the growth of the water cash advance loans. BP is now focusing on the establishment of a lid on the underwater drilling but the installation should take a month.

Stall Award

Sign that the situation is critical for the group: Stock investors have not waited to dispose of their shares.Since April 20, when the explosion of the platform, the BP shares have lost 12% to the London Stock Exchange, falling from 655.4 to 577.5 pounds.

Also listed on Wall Street, stocks dropped 13% BP and rate 52.6 dollars at the close of U.S. markets on Thursday.

After Exxon Valdez and Erika

In the history of oil spills can be compared with that of Louisiana, the disaster of the Exxon Valdez in 1989 in Prince Williams Sound in Alaska and the sinking of the Erika in 1999, whose responsibilities incumbent on Exxon Mobil and the French Total.

Exxon Mobil eventually pay only 500 million euros to force delays in judicial proceedings.The tanker had been sentenced in 1994 to $ 5 billion in damages to the 30,000 inhabitants of the region, the equivalent of one year's profits for the oil group.

At Total, the fine of 375,000 euros has been confirmed by the Court of Appeal in Paris last March. On the front of compensation payable to the 80 plaintiffs, Total paid 170 million euros.

British Petroleum is already the subject of a complaint by the shrimpers of Louisiana for "negligence" and "pollution". They require 5 million in damages.

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