White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Monday said penalties against BP PLC (BP. BP.PLN) will likely be in the "many billions of dollars."

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Monday
said penalties against BP PLC (BP. BP.PLN) will likely be in the "many billions
of dollars."

  U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said the company had collected about 11,000
barrels of oil from a ruptured well in the Gulf in the last 24 hours and is
approaching collecting 15,000 barrels to 20,000 barrels.

  Gibbs, asked about the oil BP is collecting, said the costs associated with
the spill will "greatly exceed" the amount recouped from selling the captured
oil on the market. He said that in addition to response and recovery costs,
there will be "penalties that will be involved in this in the many billions of
dollars."

  BP on Monday said the cost of the oil spill had reached $1.25 billion.

  The company on Saturday had funneled up 10,500 barrels, which was well up
from the just over 6,000 barrels it managed to collect the previous day. An
estimated 12,000 to 19,000 barrels are gushing from the well daily, or about
500,000 to 800,000 gallons.

  BP's latest efforts follow a string of failed attempts to plug the well. The
company and government have stressed that a final solution to the leak won't
come until August, when relief wells the company is drilling will be completed.

  The number comes as the federal government said its response to the disaster
will stretch until the fall.

  U.S. President Barack Obama traveled to Louisiana on Friday to survey the
disaster and the impact it was having on local economies. Obama has faced
criticism for imposing a six-month moratorium on exploratory, deep-water
drilling in the Gulf amid concerns it would further imperil a region already
reeling from commercial fishing restrictions and lost tourism caused by the
disaster.

  He told residents there that he wanted to ensure deepwater-drilling could be
done safely and give time for a presidential commission he formed to
investigate the causes of the disaster and suggest potential regulatory
changes.

  Eleven men were killed on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig when it caught fire
April 20. Obama invited the families of the men to the White House for a
meeting Thursday.

  -By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires; 202.862.9256;
jared.favole@dowjones.com

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