The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a matter between the United States and a private company and will not hurt US relations with the British government, the US State Department said today.
"BP is a private company and this is about the impact of a tragedy in terms of the explosion of the oil platform and the resulting oil spill," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a briefing.
"This is not about relations between the United States and its closest ally."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs also said that he did not think the BP oil spill would affect relations with Britain. "I do not. I see no reason," he told reporters at a daily briefing.
Their remarks came after business leaders in Britain urged the government to defend BP - the biggest single payer of dividends among UK listed companies - against U.S. threats to expand the company's liabilities for the spill.
Asked about British criticism of president Barack Obama's harsh rhetoric toward BP, Mr Crowley said he had no knowledge whether anyone in the British government had voiced a complaint directly to the Obama administration.
He said Mr Obama and British prime minister David Cameron were likely to meet at a G20 gathering soon and he expected the gulf oil spill to be a topic of discussion.
Mr Cameron described the spill as an "environmental catastrophe".
"BP needs to do everything it can to deal with the situation and the UK government stands ready to help ... I completely understand the US government's frustration," he said.
Mr Crowley said the United States understood the important role that BP plays in the British economy and British markets. But ultimately the issue was about "a private company and its responsibility in light of what happened in the gulf."
"We fully understand that there are ripple effects in other parts of the world as well and we'll talk to the government about this where appropriate," Crowley said.
"I think the British people understand the frustration and anger that the American people are seeing in this. It is not going to affect our relationship between the United States and Britain," he said.
Shares in BP sank to their lowest level since 1997 in London trading on Thursday, catching up with a sharp fall yesterday in the US, before bouncing off their lows.
The prospect of new government penalties has dented investor confidence in BP shares and the company opened trading in London today down 11 per cent before recovering to trade down 6.6 per cent.
In New York, the stock rebounded about 9 per cent in early trading after taking a 16 per cent dive to a 14-year-low on yesterday amid concerns over BP's ability to meet mounting costs from the oil spill.
Reuters