Oil giant BP has acknowledged it is "absolutely responsible" for cleaning up a huge oil spill after an explosion at one of its wells off the US coast.

石油巨头英国石油公司承认其对美国海岸的石油泄漏清理工作负有“绝对的责任”。

But BP boss Tony Hayward said the firm was not to blame for the accident which sank the Deepwater Horizon rig（钻探设备） on 22 April, causing the slick.

He said the equipment that failed belonged to drilling firm Transocean.

Both companies are expecting lawsuits¹ over the slick, which threatens to cause major ecological² damage.

US President Barack Obama has described the oil leak as a "potentially unprecedented³" environmental disaster.

"BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill," he said.

Slick 'heading to Florida'

The US government has been putting pressure on BP to act quickly.

In a BBC interview, Mr Hayward dismissed（摒弃，开除） talk of a rift⁴ between BP and US officials.

"Despite some of the rhetoric⁵（修辞） we have established an incredible co-operative relationship with the federal authorities," he said.

"It's clear that we're working very well together. In terms of the responsibility, I want to be clear, this was not our accident but it is our responsibility to deal with the leak and clean up the oil."

Thousands of barrels of oil have been leaking into the Gulf⁶ of Mexico every day since the rig sank.

Some oil has washed ashore⁷, but officials say the bulk of the slick remains⁸ a few miles from the Louisiana coastline.

The oil is already having a devastating⁹ effect on the area's fishing industry, and officials fear much wider environmental damage if the full slick hits land.

Forecasters said south-westerly winds on Monday were pushing the slick towards Florida.

Falling shares

Mr Hayward said BP was making a three-pronged（分为不同方向的） effort to stop the leak:
Undersea robots are working on the safety valve（安全阀） which failed, allowing the oil to escape
A containment¹⁰ vessel¹¹（保护壳，密封壳） is being sent to the site and would, in effect, suck up（吸收） the escaped oil
BP is drilling a new well to help relieve the pressure and stem the flow from the rupture¹²（破裂）

Experts warn that the cost of clearing up the spill could run into billions of dollars.

BP has said it will honour legitimate¹³ claims for compensation from people affected¹⁴.

The firm's shares continued to fall on Monday, after previous trading had seen about $20bn wiped from its market value since the accident.

UK markets were closed on Monday, but BP's Frankfurt-listed shares opened 8% lower before clawing back（弥补性收入） some of the losses.

Analysts¹⁵ say the costs associated with the slick are uncertain, meaning that the share price was likely to remain volatile¹⁶（爆炸性的，不稳定的） while the leak continues.

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger withdrew his support for a plan to expand oil exploration off the state's coast.

He said seeing TV images of the spill in the Gulf had changed his mind about the safety of offshore¹⁷ oil platforms in the Pacific Ocean.

He had supported more drilling as a way to ease the state's budget deficit¹⁸（预算赤字） .