BP Offers to Pay for Losses Tied to Oil Spill

British Petroleum assured shrimpers, oil workers and scores of others Monday that they will be paid for damage and injuries from the explosion of a drilling rig and the resulting massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a few days ago.

A fact sheet on the company's Web site said BP takes responsibility for cleaning up the spill and will compensate for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses.

President Barack Obama and several attorneys general have asked the company to explain exactly what that means.

In the Chandeleur Sound on Monday, about 40 miles northeast of Venice, thick oil was slicked in long clumps that looked like raw sewage. Several sick and dying jellyfish could be seen in the water. A dolphin surfaced nearby but did not appear to be in distress.

Numerous dead turtles, fish and other wildlife have washed up on gulf shores, though authorities have not yet confirmed that the animals died because of the oil spill.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward said Monday that the equipment that failed and led to the spill belonged to Transocean Ltd., not BP, which operated the Deepwater Horizon rig.

Guy Cantwell, a Transocean spokesman, said the company was waiting for all the facts before drawing conclusions.

A board investigating the explosion and oil leak plans to hold its first public hearing in about two weeks. The cause of the April 20 explosion, which killed 11 workers, has not been determined.