BP Hit By Wave of Gulf Oil Spill Claims As Deadline Approaches

BP Plc has been hit by more than 2,200 new lawsuits seeking payback for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill in the past few weeks as individuals, companies and government bodies rushed to stake their claim before their right to do so expired. The British oil company, whose deepwater Macondo well ruptured on April 20, 2010, killing 11 men and spilling crude into the sea for weeks, revealed the number of new claims made since March 6 in its first-quarter results on Tuesday.