BP chairman summoned
Jun 12, 2010

Pressure on oil giant intensifies as panel doubles leak estimate


Mr Svanberg has been summoned to a meeting with President Barack Obama next Wednesday to answer questions about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON - UNITED States President Barack Obama has summoned British oil giant BP's chairman to a meeting over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as a government panel doubled its estimate of how much oil has been spewing from the out-of-control BP well.

Mr Carl-Henric Svanberg and other company officials were invited to a meeting set for next Wednesday by Admiral Thad Allen, a Coast Guard top brass who is leading the US government's response to the crisis.

'The BP Deepwater Horizon spill is the largest environmental disaster in our nation's history,' said the letter to Mr Svanberg from Adm Allen.

'Our administration is not going to rest or be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people of the Gulf are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods,' it said. Mr Obama will participate in part of the meeting, Adm Allen wrote.

The White House did not ask to see BP's chief executive Tony Hayward, who Mr Obama has denounced for comments he made about the disaster.

The call came as British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would be discussing BP's handling of the leak with Mr Obama today.

straitstimes.com