BP bows to Obama’s demand for $20bn fund

BP HAS bowed to US President Barack Obama’s demand for a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The humbled chairman of the giant British company Carl-Henric Svanberg apologised to the American people for the for the worst spill in US history and said BP was suspending its dividends to shareholders to help pay for the costs.

Obama called it “an important step toward making the people of the Gulf Coast whole again”.