BP escrow account

The $20 billion fund established to compensate victims of BP's Gulf oil spill has been criticized for processing claims too slowly. Kenneth Feinberg responded to those accusations Saturday, and said was implementing changes to make payments more quickly, and more generous.

Several media have reported that BP will increase its target for asset sales to as high as $40 billion. This almost certainly mean disposing of its aging oil field holdings in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, which may be worth as much as $20 billion.

BP made the initial installment earlier than scheduled, and it will make an additional $2 billion deposit in the fourth quarter. Thereafter, it will add $1.25 billion to the fund per quarter until the total reaches $20 billion.