Don't cry for BP

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Poor BP. They caused the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, even if Cheney and his pals deserve much of the blame, and they've already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to clean it up (not that it's going all that well, mind you). Makes you wonder... can it afford it? Of course it can. It's a freakin' oil giant:

On Monday, BP said it spent $350 million in the first 20 days of the spill response, about $17.5 million a day. It has paid 295 of the 4,700 claims received, for a total of $3.5 million. By contrast, in the first quarter of the year, the London-based oil giant's profits averaged $93 million a day.

The amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has been estimated at 5,000 to 25,000 barrels a day. In the first quarter, BP produced 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day worldwide -- and it received $71.86 for every barrel. 

Via Think Progress.