BP says Gulf oil spill costs reach $1.6b

Smoke billows from a controlled burn of spilled oil off the Louisiana coast. PHOTO: REUTERS

BP said the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had already cost it $1.6 billion and that it would begin operating an additional mechanism to capture more crude from the leaking well in the coming days.

London-based BP said in a statement on Monday that 51,000 damages claims had been submitted and that more than 26,500 payments, worth over $62 million, had been made. The $1.6 billion includes only $60 million of $360 million the oil major has committed to building barrier islands off the Louisiana coast.