Many people have been adversely affected by the oil spill. A generous donation of $20 billion has been placed into escrow by British Petroleum (BP). This announcement was made after BP top officials met with President Obama and his administration to discuss the oil spill problem.

Kenneth Feinberg will be in charge of the funds and the process of administering them to victims of the oil spill. Feinberg is a well respected attorney and he was the one in charge of such funds after the 09/11 attacks. The oil spill on April 20, 2010 has become known as the largest oil spill ever. The cost of it has so far exceeded $1.6 billion and the numbers are still adding up.

Tony Hayward, BP Chief Executive, stated that he is devastated by the problems that the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig has contributed. He also understanding why the United States government and citizens are very upset at BP. They aren’t going to schedule their dividend payment that would normally occur on June 21st for about $2.6 billion. As a result of this the Dow Jones increased by four points.

Hayward admits that BP doesn’t have all the answers yet about how to fix the oil spill situation. With more than 118 gallons of oil being released into the Gulf of Mexico there isn’t a quick fix. However, the fact that BP is working with the United States government is a step in the right direction.

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