President Barack Obama has warned BP it must not short-change on Gulf of Mexico disaster victims if it pays billions of dollars in share dividends.
Obama, who has been criticised for not showing enough emotion over the worst environmental disaster in US history, showed flashes of obvious anger on Friday as he hammered BP, which operates the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in April.
Third visit
The president was making his third visit to the disaster zone, as he comes under increasing pressure over the oil spill - a factor that caused him to postpone a trip to Indonesia and Australia later this month.
He said he had no problem with BP meeting legal obligations to pay dividends to shareholders but said the firm must not short-change fisherman and other victims of the disaster in Louisiana.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"I don't want them nickel and diming people down here," Obama said after getting a briefing from local political leaders and state and federal disaster relief officials.
Obama's comments referred to reports that BP may be considering maintaining its dividend to shareholders despite the scale of the disaster, which looks set to cost billions of dollars.
The president also said it was "too early" to say whether BP's latest attempt to plug the gushing undersea oil well that has contaminated a swathe of the Gulf of Mexico would be successful.
Obama was briefed by officials including Admiral Thad Allen, who is overseeing the federal disaster mitigation effort, governor Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana, and governor Charlie Crist, of Florida, where oil is beginning to come ashore.
He then travelled to Grand Isle, a peninsula in the southern Mississippi delta to meet residents affected by the disaster.
Advertising anger
The president said it was his understanding that BP had paid $US50 million ($A59 million) in advertising to help it manage its image through the Gulf drama, and mentioned other reports of a possible $US10.5 billion ($A12 billion) dividend payment.
"I want BP to be clear they've got moral and legal obligations here in the gulf," Obama said, referencing a law requiring oil firms to pay clean-up costs of spills and some compensation to people whose livelihoods are hit.
He said fishermen in the area were facing huge financial impacts, after vast tracts of sea became contaminated by oil, adding that he did not want BP "lawyering up" to slow the claims process.
"I want them to hear from me and I want to public to hear from them," Obama said.
"They need to make sure they are following through on these claims in a fair way and if they are not, we are going to stay on them about it."
Obama spoke after the US government on Thursday submitted a $US69 million ($A82 million) bill to BP, payable by July 1, for initial costs from the cleanup operation.
"The fact BP can pay a $US10.5 billion ($A12 billion) dividend payment is indicative of how much money these folks have been making," he said on Friday.
BP has yet to say whether it will pay its normal dividend to shareholders but is coming under increasing political pressure in the US - not just from Obama - to skip the payment.
