BP's Deepwater clean-up bill hits £5bn

American politicians and environmentalists claimed that yesterday's blast, on an oil platform owned by Mariner Energy Inc, showed that offshore drilling is "inherently dangerous".

President Barack Obama suspended deep-water drilling in the wake of the BP disaster in April. Supporters of the energy industry have warned that Obama's ban could cost 23,000 jobs in the Gulf of Mexico region alone.

The Mariner Energy rig, which is around 200 miles from BP's doomed Deepwater Horizon well, is not covered by the deep-water ban as it operates in only 104metres of water.

No workers on the rig were hurt and there was no serious spill. But Jacqueline Savitz, senior campaign director for US environmental group Oceana, said: "What it shows us is that the moratorium doesn't go far enough, that if we continue to drill for oil we're going to continue to have accidents."

BP's own clean-up efforts are far from over as it said today 28,000 personnel, more than 4000 vessels and dozens of aircraft are still involved.

The British energy giant said plans to seal the well permanently are on course to be completed later this month. A temporary "capping stack" was removed yesterday.

No new oil has leaked since late July when the well was first capped.

While the clean-up bill is expected to keep soaring from today's $8 billion figure, BP has already set aside $20 billion in an escrow account.

BP shares, up 0.4p at 393p, remain a third below pre-Deepwater Horizon levels.