Factbox - Developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

TOP DEVELOPMENTS

* Angry U.S. lawmakers hammered BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward at a congressional hearing on Thursday, accusing him of evasion and ducking responsibility and his company of taking "extreme risks" that triggered the disaster.

* BP shares, nearly halved in value since the April 20 explosion on an offshore rig that led to the spill, fell 0.4 percent in New York trade after rallying almost 7 percent in London.

* Investors have welcomed a BP deal with the White House to set up a $20 billion (13.5 billion pound) fund for compensation claims arising from the spill as it gives markets clarity on the costs, analysts said.

* Gulf spill damages could reach $100 billion, Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy told Reuters, adding the $20 billion BP fund is not enough. Kennedy said Louisiana is losing $100 million to $150 million in wages per month.

* Hayward told the congressional hearing there are many wells in the region with the same casing design as the Macondo well that is spewing oil.

POLITICS/POLICY

* Republican Representative Joe Barton of Texas apologized to Hayward at the hearing for the White House "shakedown" creating a $20 billion "slush fund." He retracted his apology after it provoked denunciations from his own party.

* BP faces a huge compensation bill for the cleanup of the spill but also wants clarity on its future, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday.

* Britain's Chancellor George Osborne told BBC radio that BP "is a very important company, not just to the British economy but to the American economy as well. And we want it to succeed and flourish in the future for all our sakes."

* Oil companies will undoubtedly need to review and amend their oil spill response plans in the disaster, U.S. Interior Department's Minerals Management Service head Bob Abbey said on Thursday.

COMPANY/MARKETS NEWS

* BP is considering a corporate debt offering of $5 billion to $10 billion as early as next week, sources said.

* Credit default swaps insuring BP's debt jumped after this report.

* Standard & Poor's cut BP's credit rating and said it might do so again.

* BP announced a $10 billion asset sale program as part of the $20 billion escrow fund deal and bankers said most divestments would come from outside the United States. Oppenheimer & Co analyst Fadel Gheit pegged the value of the company's assets at more than $250 billion.

* BofA Merrill Lynch expects BP's trading operations to be hurt as the company sets up funds for damage claims from the spill and downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy." Analysts said the outcome of BP's meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama provided little clarity.

* BP has not decided what assets to sell to meet U.S. oil spill costs, the head of its Russian operations said, following rumours its stake in Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer, was for sale.

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the Wall Street Journal the spill could lead to the breakup of BP but stopped short of saying Russia would re-evaluate BP's lucrative Russian partnership.

SPILL CONTAINMENT EFFORTS

* BP is ahead of schedule on drilling a pair of relief wells designed to eventually stop the gushing oil leak but the top U.S. official overseeing the spill response said on Thursday the company still expects to finish them in August.

* BP's dual oil-handling system collected 14,750 barrels of oil and burnt off another 3,850 barrels on Wednesday. Total oil recovered reached 179,000 barrels.

OIL SLICK THREAT

* The spill has fouled at least 120 miles (190 km) of U.S. coastline, imperilled multibillion-dollar fishing and tourism industries and killed birds, sea turtles and dolphins.

* Fear that oil from the spill will damage Mississippi's coast is hurting the state's economy more than oil damage itself, according to a report.

GLOBAL REACTION

* Offshore drilling continues around the world as BP's spill gushes.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Under your leadership BP has taken the most extreme risks. BP has cut corner after corner" -- Democratic lawmaker Henry Waxman to BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward.

(Compiled by Bruce Nichols)