国际英语新闻：BP announces second 25-million-dollar grant to Florida

HOUSTON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- British oil giant BP on Friday announced a second 25-million-U.S.-dollar grant to the U.S. state of Florida to help it battle the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The grant is in addition to a previous 25 million block grant the company announced on May 5 to help accelerate the implementation of the state's Area Contingency Plan, and a 25 million tourism grant announced on May 17, BP said in a statement.

"Working in partnership with the state is important to an effective spill response. So we are pleased to make these additional funds available per the Governor's request," said Doug Suttles, BP's Chief Operating Officer.

The Premier Explorer of Venice, Louisiana stands by near a controlled burn of spilled oil off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, in this handout photograph taken June 9, 2010 and released on June 11. BP Plc said on Friday it collected 15,400 barrels (646,800 gallons/2,448,404 liters) of oil in 24 hours on Thursday, a small decrease from 15,800 barrels collected in the previous 24 hours.

BP has spent 1.4 billion U.S. dollars since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico in late April, Raymond Dempsey, the Vice President of Strategy for BP America, told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

That figure includes the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs. It excludes the 360 million in funds for the Louisiana barrier islands construction project.

Also on Friday, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the commander for the spill response, said the U.S. government has so far spent 130 million to 140 million on the oil cleanup costs, drawn from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.