$420 MILLION AND COUNTING

BP has incurred $420 million in costs so far from response, containment,relief well drilling and payments to Gulf Coast states, suggesting thefinal bill could be much higher than many analysts predicted.
BP is ill prepared to deal with such an incident.
BP shares fell 11 percent at 1430 GMT, lagging a 5.8 percent rise in theSTOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index. The stock dropped as low as 540.7p inLondon, its lowest since November. BP's American Depositary Receipts fell0.5 percent in New York.
The stock has lost around 17 percent since the rig blast, wiping around $33billion from BP's market value.
One economist predicts the spill's impact on the Gulf Coast will bewidespread, although jobs created for clean up efforts will spawn temporarynew jobs and demand for housing., but there will be more predictedlong-term casualties in terms of businesses lost, property depreciation andthe displacement of workers.