GEO 436 WASHINGTON: Under intense pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama, BP Plc (BP.L)(BP.N) said on Wednesday it will set up a $20 billion fund for damage claims from its huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill, sell assets and suspend dividend payments to shareholders. The deal gave Obama his most tangible success since the crisis began 58 days ago, with criticism over his handling of the worst oil spill in U.S. history hurting the president in opinion polls as his fellow Democrats gear up for tough congressional elections in November. The fund, which BP will finance partly by selling $10 billion in assets, also eased pressure on the British energy giant, whose share price has withered amid uncertainty over the ultimate cost of cleanup, claims and fines. Obama announced the agreement after White House officials held four hours of talks with BP executives, who emerged to offer an apology to the American people. “I do thank you for the patience that you have during this difficult time,” BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said. “I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies who don”t care. But that is not the case in BP. We care about the small people.” Svanberg’’s “small people” comment was the latest in a string of gaffes by BP officials over the spill. After the remark was widely covered on U.S. newscasts, the Swedish chairman issued a statement saying he “spoke clumsily.” Chief Executive Tony Hayward, the public face of BP’’s response to the disaster and author of a few gaffes himself, will appear on Thursday at a congressional hearing where he will face heavy scrutiny over events leading up to the spill and BP’’s cleanup of the mess. An April 20 explosion on an offshore rig leased by BP killed 11 workers and ruptured a deep-sea well. The ensuing spill has fouled 120 miles (190 km) of U.S. coastline, imperiled multibillion-dollar fishing and tourism industries and killed birds, sea turtles and dolphins.
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