The Gulf Oil Spill

The oil spill that has ravaged the Gulf of Mexico over the past week will prove to be an expensive clean-up operation for British Petroleum, the company whose operations are the responsible for the disaster.

"There are a lot of uncertainties right now about the Gulf oil spill. But one thing is clear: In addition to the intangible loss of wildlife, it's going to cost BP a lot of money.

Under current law an oil well's owner is responsible to foot the bill for the entire cost of clean up in the event of a disaster. In this case that includes BP and minority partners Anadarko and Mitsui."

President Obama has mobilized an extensive federal response to the spill. However, all of the U.S. taxpayer money being used to aid the closing of the well will assuredly have to be reimbursed by BP.

On Friday, a research note Friday from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch estimated the total clean up costs at $3 billion.

By Sunday, another estimate put the cost at $14 billion.

When it's all said and done (meaning, once the lawsuits have been settled), we'll be surprised if BP (and its suppliers and subcontractors implicated as part of this spill) emerges from this debacle having paid less than $100 billion.