Row looms as BP set to reveal huge adverts bill

Oil giant BP will reveal today that it has spent more than $1 million (£644,000) a week on television and radio advertising since the oilrig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico

The company is expected to deliver a report today to the US House of Representatives' energy and commerce committee, which had demanded to know how much money BP had spent on advertising and marketing since the disaster on 20 April.

The company intends to cooperate with the committee's demands, although no formal response has yet been submitted, and will reveal that at least $1m a week has been spent on network television, cable and radio advertising over the past 18 weeks, according to reports at the weekend.

The blast in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the deaths of 11 rig workers, an oil spill that has caused catastrophic pollution throughout the region and the departure of BP chief executive Tony Hayward.

The advertising campaign was criticised by US president Barack Obama, who warned BP: "What I don't want to hear is, when they're spending that kind of money on their shareholders and on TV advertising, that they're nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here in the Gulf who are having a hard time."