BP announced that it has established a trust and made a US $3 billion initial deposit of the previously-announced US $20 billion escrow account to pay legitimate claims arising from the deepwater horizon incident and the resulting oil and gas spill. “The purpose of the escrow account was to assure those adversely affected by the spill that we indeed intend to stand behind our commitment to them and to the American taxpayers,” said Bob Dudley, CEO of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization. “Establishing this trust and making the initial deposit ahead of schedule further demonstrates our commitment to making it right in the Gulf Coast.”

Two individual trustees have been named to the newly-established trust that will administer the account:  John S Martin, a former US district judge for the southern district of New York, and Kent Syverud, dean of the Washington University School of Law.
Citigroup will serve as corporate trustee and paying agent for the account.

An approaching storm in the Gulf of Mexico will delay BP’s work on a relief well by two to three days, the final step in permanently killing the source of the world’s worst offshore oil spill, the top US spill official said. BP suspended work on the relief well aiming to bore into its blown-out Macondo well hours before the National Hurricane Center said a tropical depression formed over the Gulf of Mexico.Computer models forecast the depression would move northwest, crossing the spill site before making landfall in Louisiana or elsewhere along the north-central Gulf coast by Wednesday night or early Thursday.

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