BP's oil spill costs could hit $40bn

Oil company BP has increases its estimate for the cost of cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by $7.7bn (£4.8bn), increasing the total to nearly $40bn, The Guardian reports.

The charge, which BP revealed in its latest results filing, cut the oil company's third-quarter profits to $1.8bn from the $5bn it made in the same quarter last year.

In late July, BP set aside $32.2bn to cover the cost of the clean-up, forcing the company to make a loss of $17bn for the second quarter of 2010.