NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- BP's stock rose 2% at the start of trading on Monday after the oil giant announced that it is making progress in capping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP (BP) said on Monday that 10,500 barrels of oil had been collected on Saturday. This means that a total of 16,600 barrels were collected between Thursday and Saturday. The spill is leaking at least 19,000 barrels a day.
BP also said it has spent $1.25 billion so far in its efforts to cap the well and clean up the resulting spill, which has fouled the beaches of Louisiana, the hardest hit area. This includes $360 million to build and install structures to try and keep oil from washing ashore on Louisiana's barrier islands.
Thousands of people have been put out of work and the fishing industry is in shambles, though BP has pledged to pay compensation for all legitimate claims. Damage estimates range from $3 billion to $40 billion.
Nonetheless, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told investors in a conference call last week that his company is in sound financial shape. Another executive said the company generated $30 billion in cash over the last four quarters.
The problems stem from a disaster that occurred on April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig exploded and sank, killing 11 workers.
BP owns the well, while the rig is owned by Transocean (RIG), which saw its stock rise nearly 2% at the start of trading.
BP is in the process of digging two relief wells to try and siphon off oil, but it could be three months before they're completed.
Gulf Coast residents, workers and business owners are bracing themselves for the full extent of the economic and environmental damage, since no one really knows when the spill will be capped and where the currents will take the oil.
Florida tourism officials said that "dime to quarter-sized tar balls" have been found on beaches in the Panhandle.
"Additional impacts are expected throughout Northwest Florida within the next 72 hours," according to a statement posted Sunday on Florida's tourism Web site says. "At this time, there are no beach closures and Florida's state waters remain open to recreational fishing." 
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 16,020.20 | 198.69 | 1.26% |
| Nasdaq | 4,062.52 | 29.36 | 0.73% |
| S&P 500 | 1,805.09 | 20.06 | 1.12% |
| Treasuries | 2.88 | 0.02 | 0.73% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 15.56 | 0.13 | 0.84% |
| Intel Corp | 24.82 | 0.56 | 2.31% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 21.28 | 0.37 | 1.77% |
| General Motors Co | 40.17 | 1.08 | 2.76% |
| Microsoft Corp | 38.36 | 0.36 | 0.95% |
|
A former Goldman Sachs vice president and trader, was on Friday sentenced to nine months in prison by a federal judge in Manhattan for trying to cover up an $8.3 billion trade. More |
The first major global trade deal in nearly 20 years was struck in Bali Saturday as 160 countries agreed on measures that should speed up the flow of goods and could boost the world economy by as much as $1 trillion. More |
How one startup hopes to reinvent the act of gift-giving. More |
You have to search the fine print on Tegu's toy block set to find any hint of the company's plan to make one of Central America's poorest cities a better place. More |
As usual, Congress has left all the year's major fiscal decisions to the last minute. More |
.
