The company’s $10.5 billion annual dividend has become a point of contention as President Obama has said BP should not be paying stockholders when fishermen, oil workers and small business owners are saying they cannot get the company to pay their loss claims from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The discussions came as Mr. Obama headed to the Gulf Coast on Monday, his fourth trip to the region since the disaster struck, and as the company said that it would increase the amount of oil they would recover from the damaged well daily. “We are considering all these issues and look forward to constructive conversations on Wednesday in the White House,” said Andrew Gowers, a senior BP spokesman. On Sunday, the company used underwater robots to position sensors inside the well to measure how much oil is spilling, The Associated Press reported. The stickiest issues could be hashed out in private before the White House meeting, where Obama will go face to face with BP's controversial chief executive Tony Hayward and the little-seen chairman of the board, Carl-Henric Svanberg, among other BP executives.
– In his first-ever Oval Office speech tomorrow night, President Obama will demand that BP hand over billions of dollars to an independent mediator who will handle the claims of people and businesses affected by the Gulf oil spill. The White House hasn't named a sum, but House Dems asked BP for $20 billion for the escrow fund yesterday. The speech will come amid a week of activities that the president hopes will convince the public he's in control of the oil spill crisis, the New York Times reports. Those the administration wants BP to compensate include all oil industry workers affected by the current moratorium on drilling. The oil giant fears the plan would create unlimited liability for it, the Washington Post reports. Another current sore point as both sides gear up for Obama's meeting with BP leaders Wednesday is the $10.5 billion dividend BP had planned to pay out to shareholders, likely unfeasible in the current political environment. Topping off the week's confrontations with the government, BP head Tony Hayward will go before a congressional committee Thursday.