WASHINGTON — BP must pay “tens of thousands” of economic claims from the Gulf oil spill, President Obama told British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday, a senior US official said.
Obama also made clear in a phone call that US frustration with the London-based, multinational oil giant had nothing to do with national identity, “but has to do with ensuring that a large, wealthy company lives up to its obligations,” the official said.
The two leaders spoke by phone for 30 minutes yesterday to soothe tensions over the spill. Cameron has been under pressure to get Obama to temper criticism, fearing it will hurt millions of retirees who hold BP stock.
Cameron’s office said he “expressed his sadness at the ongoing human and environmental catastrophe.”