The meeting between Barack Obama and Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of BP, has changed the mood music surrounding the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. For the US president, the $20bn claims fund and suspension of BP's dividend are vindication of his tough stance on holding the company to account. For BP, the fund establishes a framework, endorsed by the Obama administration, within which it can deal with the claims. That should give the oil group a greater measure of clarity on its exposure for the next three to four years.
巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)與英國石油(BP)董事長思文凱(Carl-Henric Svanberg)的會談改變了墨西哥灣原油泄漏事件的氛圍。對于美國總統而言,BP成立200億美元的賠償基金以及暫停發放股息,證明了他要求BP承擔責任的強硬立場的正確性。對于BP而言,賠償基金構建了一個得到奧巴馬政府認可的框架,使其得以在這個框架內處理索賠要求。這應該能讓BP得以更好地估算未來三到四年的風險。