Obama is looking for ‘ass to kick’

US President Barack Obama said he wanted to know “whose ass to kick” over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, adding to the pressure on energy giant BP as it tried to capture more of the leak from its gushing well.

“I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick,” Obama told the world’s media.

They were the angriest words yet about the catastrophe from Obama, who has been criticised for his response to the worst oil spill in US history. Obama also reiterated that all those affected should be adequately compensated.

In London, BP’s share price lost 3.6% after Obama’s remarks, reversing the previous day’s gains. The company’s shares are down more than a third from mid-April.

A Washington Post/ABC poll found that 69% of Americans believe the government had done a “not so good” or “poor” job handling the spill. Just over 1,000 people were surveyed in the poll, conducted between June 3 and 6.

While a complete halt to the flow of oil is not expected until August at the earliest, BP reported an increase in the amount of oil it is capturing from the well in its latest containment effort.

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who leads the US government’s reliefeffort, said London-based BP hoped to collect 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons / 3.18 million litres) per day in its latest effort.

BP said it had collected 7,541 barrels of oil in the first 12 hours of Monday. If it collected the same amount the rest of the day, the total for Monday would be more than 15,000 barrels, about 35% higher than the amount collected on Sunday.

Neither Allen nor BP gave an estimate of how much oil is still flowing into the Gulf. BP’s latest attempt involves placing a cap on top of the gushing pipe on the ocean floor.

Meanwhile, the political heat remains intense. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday titled: “The Risky Business of Big Oil: Have Recent Court Decisions and Liability Caps Encouraged Irresponsible Corporate Behaviour?” Democrats in Congress have been looking at lifting such caps.

The spill has now affected 120 miles of coastline.

After fouling wildlife refuges in Louisiana and barrier islands in Mississippi and Alabama, oil has hit some of the famous white beaches of Florida, where the $60 billion-a-year (€50.04bn) tourism industry accounts for nearly one million jobs.

Images of birds struggling through oil-soaked waters added to the public outcry.

One-third of the Gulf’s federal waters, or 200,000 sq km, remains closed to fishing, and the toll of dead and injured birds and marine animals is rising.