Associated Press | As BP’s costs for responding to the massive
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have risen to $1.6 billion, the board
of BP PLC will on Monday discuss U.S. demands to suspend
dividend payments to shareholders until the British company pays for
the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

According to a company news release, that includes new $25 million grants the British oil giant has given to Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. It also includes the first $60 million for a project to build barrier islands off the Louisiana coast. The estimate does not include future costs for scores of lawsuits already filed for damages.

BP is now siphoning off significant amounts of oil from its runaway well 5,000 feet underwater, but the next best chance for ending the spill won’t come until relief wells are completed in August. Already potentially more than 100 million gallons of crude have been expelled into the Gulf, far outstripping the Exxon Valdez disaster.

The London meeting comes as U.S. President Barack Obama begins a two-day visit to the Gulf Coast to view the damage from the massive slick and talk to affected residents.

BP has a number of options regarding dividend payments and analysts believe the company is unlikely to scrap it altogether. It can also defer it, pay it into shares or pay it into a ring-fenced account.

Any decision is not expected to be announced immediately, with BP executives due to meet Obama in Washington on Wednesday.