US President Barack Obama is due to meet BP executives after vowing to make the oil company pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
In his first TV address to the nation as president, Mr Obama said he would tell BP’s chairman the firm must set up a fund to compensate those affected.
Oil has been leaking into the Gulf since a drilling rig leased by BP blew up on 20 April, killing 11 workers.
BP has been accused of failing to follow proper procedures.
As oil has washed ashore in Gulf coast states, affecting businesses and wildlife, the rhetoric from US politicians has become increasingly bitter and the firm’s share price has tumbled, with billions of dollars being wiped off its value.
Mr Obama invited BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg to the White House meeting. The Associated Press news agency quotes BP as saying that group chief executive Tony Hayward, BP America president Lamar McKay and managing director Robert Dudley will accompany Mr Svanberg.
It will be Mr Obama’s first face-to-face meeting with them since the oil leak began.
“I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company’s recklessness,” Mr Obama said in his address from the White House’s Oval Office.
“And this fund will not be controlled by BP. In order to ensure that all legitimate claims are paid out in a fair and timely manner, the account must and will be administered by an independent third party.”
In response to the speech, BP said in a statement that it shared Mr Obama’s goal of cleaning up the oil spill and helping the people affected by it.
The firm said it was looking forward to Wednesday’s meeting “for a constructive discussion about how best to achieve these mutual goals”.
Estimates of how much oil is gushing out of the well have again risen dramatically.
A government panel of scientists now believes 35,000-60,000 barrels are leaking each day, up from its estimate last week of 20,000-40,000.
BP managed to place a cap over the leaking oil pipe earlier this month, and is now siphoning off some of the oil.
Clean energy call
In his address, Mr Obama described the spill as an assault on the shores and citizens of the US that tested the limits of human technology.
“We will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long it takes,” he said.
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And he said it demonstrated the need to end the US “addiction” to fossil fuels and embark on a future fuelled by clean energy.
“I say we can’t afford not to change how we produce and use energy – because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater,” he said.
But he gave few details and made no pledges about specific legislation, instead promising to look at ideas from Republicans and Democrats on the issue.
Presidents use Oval Office addresses for what they regard as vital national issues.
The speech came as opinion polls suggest a majority of Americans disapprove of how Mr Obama has handled the crisis – the worst environmental disaster in US history.
The Republicans were quick to criticise the address, with party chairman Michael Steele accusing Mr Obama of exploiting the crisis for his own political gain.